Many regard him as a major poet, but Mr Venables said Gurney thought of himself "as a composer first and poet second".

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Whatever the facts in the case of Mr Venables, that is worrying.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

Mr Venables has returned into public consciousness just as New Labour seems set to lose office, an eerie bookend to its political supremacy.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

Mr Kirby said housing Venables in Cheshire had "put him too close to temptation".

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Mr Lee added that the "pressures" on Venables "must have been enormous".

BBC: Jon Venables thinks of James Bulger's death 'every day'

Venables accepted a prison sentence was justified, Mr Gibson said, and that his release at the end of it was not a formality.

BBC: Jon Venables thinks of James Bulger's death 'every day'

However, Mr Straw did reveal in a statement on Saturday that the allegations against Venables were "extremely serious".

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