When it is published, it is rumoured that Mr Hague will call for direct elections to the upper house.

ECONOMIST: Lords reform

It is rumoured that he has deposited incriminating documents with lawyers, to be released in the event of his untimely death.

ECONOMIST: Jamaica and organised crime: Seeking Mr Coke | The

It is rumoured that one of the original residents, a little girl called Mary Masters who died of cholera in 1791, roams the hotel corridors.

BBC: Haunted Dublin

Mr Miliband may not run against his brother, but it is rumoured that his mother, widow of the fiery Marxist sociologist Ralph, is encouraging him.

ECONOMIST: Labour's future

It is rumoured that Vera Duckworth will be involved in her own health scare at Christmas while donating a kidney to her errant son Terry's grandchild.

BBC: Liz Dawn

The town is arranged higgledypiggledy up a steep hill, with narrow flights of steps between streets, and it is rumoured that some of the flights are haunted by those witches who met their end in the flames.

BBC: The Channel Islands�� surviving lore

It is rumoured that these were planning to cut oil supplies to the capital, Bogota, in the run-up to the two rounds of the presidential election in late May and in June, and that the paramilitary attack in May was intended to stop this.

ECONOMIST: The Colombian clearances

It is being rumoured that Syriza may soon transform itself into a single party and extend membership to a far left group called Antarsia (which gained 1%) and the Louka Katseli group from Pasok which failed to gain seats, and the Eco-Greens, who polled below 3%.

BBC: Greece: Trying to understand Syriza