The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, asked Mr Straw to look at how the privacy afforded to Mary Bell fits with collaborating on a book about the killings.

BBC: Child killer payment sparks law review

The cast, uniformly superb, includes Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens, Hal Holbrook as Lincoln adviser Preston Blair, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Todd Lincoln, David Strathairn as William Seward and James Spader as political operative W.N.

WSJ: 'Skyfall' Upgrades Bond to Triple-A | Film Review by Joe Morgenstern