So, is Northern Ireland better off inside or outside the European Union?

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Colum Eastwood, who visited Brussels this week, is in no doubt.
He described the prospect of the UK's withdrawal from Europe as "the biggest immediate threat to the economy of Northern Ireland and to the island as a whole".
He insisted a Brexit - the inelegant shorthand for Britain leaving Europe - "would undermine and destabilise the fabric of successive Anglo-Irish agreements".
It would "undermine and destabilise our north-south institutions", he added, and would "resurrect borders and resurrect barriers for business".
In Northern Ireland Questions in the House of Commons, the Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) Sammy Wilson took the opposite view.
He maintained a vote to leave the EU would "help the Northern Ireland economy insofar as it would release £18bn every year for expenditure on public services".
He also said it would "enable us to enter a trade agreement with growing parts of the world and release us from the stifling bureaucracies of Europe".
Finance Minister Mervyn Storey, Mr Wilson's DUP colleague, attended an event this week to welcome the allocation of more than £400m in EU peace and cross-border funding for Northern Ireland.
Earlier this month, Emma Pengelly, another DUP minister, described the peace money and the European Task Force on Northern Ireland as "essential to making Northern Ireland work and building that better future we want to see".
At the same time, DUP politicians tell you it is only right that Northern Ireland should get its share, pointing out that the UK puts £1.50 into the European pot for every £1 it gets back.
In the Commons, the SDLP, the Scottish National Party and the Labour Party appeared to be intent on exposing the difference between what they termed the "mixed messages" emanating from the Eurosceptic Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers and Ben Wallace, her Europhile junior minister.
When it came to calculating the amount Britain puts into Europe, Mr Wilson set the bar high at £18bn.
Both the DUP's deputy leader Nigel Dodds and First Minister Arlene Foster recently quoted far more conservative estimates of about £9bn.
That, coincidentally, is about the same amount as Northern Ireland's fiscal deficit with Westminster, according to the latest Stormont budget.
This BBC backgrounder opts for a UK EU contribution figure of £11.3bn.
Mr Dodds told the BBC's Question Time that Northern Ireland and the UK could survive quite well outside the EU.
Both he and Mrs Foster are sticking to the official DUP line that they will not make their minds up definitively until Prime Minister David Cameron has completed his negotiations for EU reform.
But given Mr Wilson's belief that Mr Cameron's renegotiation is doomed to fail, and the DUP MEP Diane Dodds' previous criticism of the prime minister's "barrenness of ambition", it appears almost certain that the DUP will end up campaigning for EU withdrawal, together with the Tradional Unionist Voice and the UK Independence Party.
The SDLP, Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party will be in the pro EU camp.
The Ulster Unionists are still in wait-and-see mode.
If Mr Cameron does opt for a summer referendum, voters in Northern Ireland will barely have time to recover from May's assembly election before they are asked to go to the polls again.
The campaign will no doubt feature plenty of financial arguments, not just about the UK's membership fees but also regarding the impact of any withdrawal on future trade between the UK and the rest of the EU.
Mrs Foster told me she would like more clarity about Westminster's plans for Northern Ireland's financial subvention in the event of the UK leaving the EU and the consequent loss of peace and cross-border cash.
Whether she gets such clarity is doubtful, given that the prime minister may be reluctant to contemplate such a possibility.
Away from the numbers game, with the Irish government watching on with concern and nationalists and unionists likely to be polarised, expect plenty of good old-fashioned traditional politics.
Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson has said a Brexit "could see the re-emergence of passport checkpoints and customs controls" along the Irish border that would hinder "free movement and disrupt the lives of nearly a million people living in the border region".
Mrs Foster said that is "scaremongering" and appears convinced that "practical solutions" will mean cross-border trade and the free movement of people would continue unaffected.
Just like the Scottish independence referendum, the EU campaign in Northern Ireland may ultimately be more about hearts and minds than it is about facts and figures.


A son who laughed with his father as they walked into the Hillsborough stadium later found him lying dead with other victims, the inquests have heard.

The jury at the new inquests into the 96 deaths focused on the final movements of John Anderson, 62.
Supporters who were near him on the terraces described how he was "crushed" against a barrier as the pressure in the crowd grew.
One said he was shouting for help but eventually "he stopped shouting".
Mr Anderson, known as Jack, worked as a security officer and went to the Liverpool versus Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final with his son Brian and two friends.
The jury heard they had difficulty getting into the ground from the Leppings Lane end and went in through an opened exit gate, which was opposite a tunnel leading into fenced enclosures behind the goal.
The pair ended up standing in pen four when crushing began.
Spectator Karl Mullee said he was wedged against a barrier with Mr Anderson next to him "in distress".
He said: "His colour changed and he went down and people were screaming at me to do something.
"I managed to grab his hand but I couldn't do anything."
The jury heard how fans tried to resuscitate Mr Anderson on the terraces before carrying him out of the enclosure.
They were seen in footage timed at 15:12 BST carrying him near a gate in the front fence.
Mr Anderson Jr said fans lifted him out of pen four and into the West Stand above.
After leaving the stand he "saw bodies outside" and "realised some people were dead", the jury heard.
In a statement written on the night of the disaster, he said: "I was looking at the bodies to see if I could find my father and saw that he was in fact one of them.
"I realised that he was dead and I identified him there and then to a police constable Hogg."
In a recent statement, Mr Anderson has said his father was "almost the first person he saw" among the bodies at the back of the stand.
Part of a statement by PC David Hogg was read out. He said he saw Mr Anderson Jr beside one of the bodies "sat supporting his arm".
The statement added: "I went over to this man and advised him to seek medical attention, to which he replied 'I'm not going without my dad'."
Earlier the inquests heard about the final movements of 18-year-old John McBrien.
The inquests in Warrington, Cheshire resume on Friday.
BBC News: Profiles of all those who died


All photographs courtesy of the Muriel Guepin Gallery

From Sydney and Los Angeles to Hong Kong, artist Joshua Smith's small models depict the buildings of big cities. Everything in them is reduced to scale, down to worn posters and discarded cigarette stubs.
This model is based on a building found on Willow Street, in the Tenderloin neighbourhood of San Francisco.
This shipping container was originally located in Haymarket in Sydney, before Smith shrunk it down to size.
This building is also based on one found in Sydney's Chinatown, and contains LED lights to keep it illuminated at night. Smith has even recreated the bin bags left on the street.
Smith's work features in New Realities, a group show that runs until 25 March 2017 at the Muriel Guepin Gallery in New York.


Oldham Athletic have extended the loan of midfielder Matt Palmer from Burton Albion until the end of the season.

Palmer, 22, has made seven appearances for the Latics since joining the club on a youth loan in January.
"Matty is a good player and supporters have already seen the impact he has had on the side," boss John Sheridan told the club website.
"He has still got a few things to learn but we're happy that he is going to be with for the rest of the season."


Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, has said his party is opposed to any liberalisation of the law on abortion in Northern Ireland.

His comments come ahead of the opening of the first private abortion clinic on the island of Ireland next week.
The service, run by Marie Stopes, will operate in the centre of Belfast.
Mr McGuinness denied Sinn Fein's stance was the result of pressure from within the Catholic Church.
Northern Ireland is not covered by the 1967 Abortion Act and, unlike the rest of the UK, abortions can be carried out only to preserve the life of the mother or if continuing the pregnancy would have other serious, permanent physical or mental health effects.
Speaking to Radio Ulster's Inside Politics programme, Mr McGuinness said: "We've had a very consistent position down the years.  Sinn Fein is not in favour of abortion and we resisted any attempt to bring the British 1967 Abortion Act to the north."
The deputy first minister added: "We believe that in circumstances where there is a risk to a woman's life, a risk to a woman's mental health and the grave dangers associated with that, in the final analysis a woman has to make her own decision."
He told the programme the party's position on abortion had "absolutely nothing to do with Catholic orthodoxy, its about what we believe is good for our people".
Recent attempts by some Sinn Fein activists to move the party towards a position where it supports a woman's right to choose have been voted down at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis, its annual party conference.
However, Sinn Fein does support civil partnerships and the campaign to introduce gay marriage, in defiance of the teaching of the Catholic Church.
Mr McGuinness said that, although he had no problem with churches deciding who can get married within their own institutions, he supported the right of gay people to marry "on the basis of equality".
The Sinn Fein representative also said he believed the new Marie Stopes clinic would operate in competition with existing NHS services in Northern Ireland.
He added that he was "surprised" at the involvement of the former Progressive Unionist Party leader, Dawn Purvis, who is the Belfast centre's programme director.
"Well it's a private institution, and I suppose some of us who know Dawn Purvis for a long time are a bit surprised that someone who would be a very strong advocate for the health service is now into effectively a private position within an institution that is setting itself up as something which is, if you like, a competitor to what's happening within the health service"," Mr McGuinness said.
The Marie Stopes clinic is to carry out medical, not surgical, procedures for women who are up to nine weeks pregnant and only within the existing legal framework in Northern Ireland.
The anti-abortion group, Precious Life, has called for the new clinic to be shut down, but Abortion Rights has welcomed its opening.


Gunbattles between rival gangs in a north-eastern Mexican town have left 18 people dead, police say.

The Tamaulipas state government said shooting erupted in the town of Abasolo but gave few details.
Gunmen in trucks and other vehicles had exchanged fire around the town, reports said.
Tamaulipas has been at the centre of a turf war between the Gulf and Los Zetas cartels, which are battling to control lucrative drug smuggling routes.
Mexican media say Abasolo has lacked a state police command post for several months.
Reports said Tamaulipas residents exchanged Twitter messages about Monday's shootings hours before the bloodshed was confirmed by the state government. Some tweets warned people to stay indoors.
The shooting, which began at about 0650 local time on Monday, lasted several hours.
In a brief statement, the state government said federal troops and police had been sent to restore order.
Abasolo is an agricultural community about 100km (60 miles) from the state capital, Ciudad Victoria, and has a population of about 14,000.
Last month, shootings in the nearby town of Padilla also left 18 people dead.
More than 34,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against the drug gangs in late 2006.


Jersey have signed South African tight-head prop Simon Kerrod.

The 23-year-old has played for the under-21 and under-19 sides of Super Rugby's Natal Sharks and in the Vodacom Cup for Eastern Province Kings.
Jersey have not disclosed the length of contract that Kerrod has agreed.
"Simon has progressed through age group and Vodacom Cup rugby in South Africa and has been close to getting an opportunity at Super Rugby level," said Jersey head coach Harvey Biljon.
"However he is now seeking to develop his game in Europe, and I believe his ambition and potential mean that he can make a real impact for Jersey at Championship level."
Kerrod could make his debut in the British and Irish Cup, where Jersey host the Dragons Premiership Select side on Saturday before going to Doncaster Knights on 23 January.


Previously unseen records shedding new light on life in Victorian workhouses have gone online for the first time.

They include thousands of untouched 19th Century letters, memos and reports between the Cardiff and Llanfyllin Poor Law Unions and the boards regulating workhouses in London.
The documents have been pieced together by volunteer groups, including several in Wales.
The 'Living the Poor Life' project was led by the National Archives.
Experts at the London institution say the new digitally scanned catalogue of records will prove a vital research tool in helping understand what life was like for those forced to live in the workhouses as well as those who ran them.
The project also reveals how governments throughout the century treated the less advantaged and shows the early origins of the welfare state.
Provisions like health care, pauper education and money for emigration are detailed.
But it is also clear that the system was often corrupt and the records recount instances of family breakdown, poverty, greed, violence and neglect of the poor.
Among the more horrific tales from Wales is the 1844 story of a man from Cardiff who died after walking several miles to receive relief.
And in Llanfyllin, Powys, volunteers uncovered the story of Thomas Jones, a vicious schoolmaster straight from the pages of a Dickens novel, who reportedly beat a boy of eight with a heavy stick.
The majority of the documents are letters, memos and reports between the Cardiff and Llanfyllin Poor Law Unions - covering Glamorganshire, Montgomeryshire and Denbighshire - and the Poor Law Commission and Poor Law Board in London.
Project director Dr Paul Carter, who is principal modern records specialist at The National Archives, said: "In many ways the lives of the poor are still hidden behind the impressive statistics of 19th Century industry and trade.
"The lives of those who remained poor during Britain's tenure of 'workshop of the world' are harder to 'reckon' and much harder for the researcher to track down.
"The groups who have catalogued the Cardiff and Llanfyllin records have made this kind of research so much easier."
The documents exist in 16,741 large bound volumes and cover the period from 1834 to 1900.
The project has involved cataloguing and making available digital scans of 105 of those volumes relating to 20 areas (22 poor law unions) across Wales and England.
Thanks to the work of 200 volunteers, the records are now keyword searchable, so academics, family and local historians, colleges and schools will be able to use them as a research tool.
The project uncovered numerous stories of ordinary people caught up in the Poor Law system.
Among the case studies unearthed during the project was the tale of former collier William Smith, who had lost the use of his arms in a pit explosion.
In 1847 letters detail accusations that his death was accelerated by "ill-usage" by the Poor Law authorities in Cardiff.
Records also show that in Cardiff in 1852, a letter from a pauper survives in which he lodges a complaint against a surgeon.
He claims the surgeon, a Mr Lewis, treated his patients inhumanly and he also criticises a master who made it his particular business to complain to the doctors and governors about the paupers.
It is thought that nearly 80% of the population of Wales and England in the mid-1800s were affected by the Poor Law Unions.
Until now, much of the information in these files remained a mystery as they were difficult to access.


The Conservatives have retained overall control of Somerset County Council.

The party won 28 seats, the minimum number that was needed to secure a majority.
The Liberal Democrats came second with 18 seats while UKIP, which previously had no seats, won three. Labour won three and Independents won two seats.
There is still one seat to declare at a by-election in Coker on 16 May, due to the death of one of the candidates there.
Alex Wood, who was suspended from UKIP after a photo of him apparently making a Nazi-style salute appeared on his Facebook page, failed to win a seat but came second.
Mr Wood, who said the photo actually showed him trying to grab a phone, received 665 votes in Blackmoor Vale. The Tory winner William Wallace had 1,410 votes.
Council leader John Osman said: "The people of Somerset have spoken.
"They've said they clearly understand some of the tough decisions which we had to make, but also they've seen the plan which we have for the future - the plan for jobs, the plan for investment, the plan for our vulnerable children.
"They've said 'yes' to that plan and I'm really, really happy they've said yes to it."
Conservative Mike Lewis, who won the Castle Cary seat, said: "The turnout in Castle Cary was 45% which was the highest in south Somerset.
"The turnout really does matter when it's a tight election. There's a lot of support for the Conservatives, particularly in rural areas."
The council was praised by North Somerset Conservative MP Dr Liam Fox for its "hard work". The party held on to control with the minimum of 28 seats needed for a majority.
Dr Fox said: "The Conservative result in Somerset was truly remarkable and a just reward for an excellent, hard-working council.
"The Conservative vote held up really well despite the rise in UKIP, with the real losers being the Liberal Democrats who came nowhere near their target of retaking the council."
Nigel Pearson, who won Chard North for UKIP, said "hard work" had won the party its seats.
He said: "We were out there every day on the doorstep talking to local people.
"This is just the start for UKIP - up until now we haven't been well organised."
The Liberal Democrat MP for Wells, Tessa Munt, said they had not had the number of gains they wanted but had "shown we can hold our own in the face of pretty interesting onslaughts from different groups".
She said: "You have to say UKIP is here with a vengeance. It's clearly a political force that can measure itself against the best of us across Somerset."
Boundaries have changed since the last election in 2009 and the total number of seats on the council has decreased from 58 to 55.


A Labour parliamentary candidate has resigned after tweeting an image of the Hitler Youth in relation to a protest outside BBC Scotland's HQ.

Kathy Wiles, who was due to stand in the 2015 Westminster election, said she wanted to highlight the dangers of using children in political campaigns.
Her initial tweet was responding to a picture showing children at the demo wearing pro-independence T-shirts.
Ms Wiles has apologised and resigned as a candidate for the seat of Angus.
The Labour Party said it would swiftly get a replacement.
Ms Wiles posted the contentious Nazi picture in relation to a social media debate about a protest outside BBC Scotland on Sunday afternoon about the corporation's coverage of the independence referendum.
She was responding to a photo from the protest which showed children standing underneath a promotional banner for pro-"Yes" blog Wings Over Scotland.
Replies to the tweet likened the photo to the Hitler Youth, to which Ms Wiles responded with an image showing children gathered around a swastika.
Ms Wiles was criticised by the father of two of the children in the protest photograph. He tweeted: "How dare you compare my children to the Hitler youth, despicable."
Ms Wiles apologised through her Twitter page @KathyWforAngus on Tuesday morning, writing: "I tweeted a picture on Sunday which has caused offence for which I apologise unequivocally.
"My intention was to make a point about the dangers of using young children in political campaigns, not to make any inference about those in the photo."
She has since deleted her account.
Scottish Labour later confirmed it had accepted Ms Wiles's resignation as a parliamentary candidate.
A party spokesman said: "We believe that Kathy Wiles has taken the right decision to withdraw in Angus and we will move swiftly to get another candidate in place.
"The debate about Scotland's future should be held in a respectful and positive way and we will take robust and immediate action if any of our members fall below these standards."


The White House has warned Syria not to transfer weapons to Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon.

The warning came amid contradictory claims of an Israeli strike in Syria.
Syria says Israeli war planes bombed a military research centre north-west of Damascus, but the US and others say lorries carrying weapons bound for Lebanon were hit.
Israel has maintained silence about the incident, but Syria has made a formal complaint to the UN.
Damascus says it reserves the right to defend itself, while its allies Russia and Iran have strongly denounced the attack.
Q&A: Israeli 'strike' on Syria
Analysis: Strike adds complexity to tense region
The Syrian army statement about the incident, carried on state media, said Israeli fighter jets had carried out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in Jamraya, killing two people and wounding five.
But a US official told the BBC the target was a convoy carrying SA-17 surface-to-air missiles. Some rebel groups have said they targeted the Jamraya centre.
Israel has declined to comment.
The latest developments have struck a country in turmoil. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to cling to power despite a 22-month conflict that has killed more than 60,000 people.
White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes did not confirm details of Israel's raid itself, but had a warning to issue to Syria.
"Syria should not further destabilise the region by transferring weaponry to Hezbollah," he said.
By Jim MuirBBC News, Beirut
Amid a welter of contradictory reports and rumours, it seems to be established that Israel did mount a lightning air strike inside Syria, despite complete silence from Israeli officials.
That is their normal practice on such occasions. Additionally, they know that intervening in the complex Syrian internal conflict carries big political risks, not least being accused of teaming up with the rebels.
That is exactly what has happened, with Syria and its allies Iran and Hezbollah saying the attack exposed complicity between Israel, the West, and the Syrian opposition.
Israel knows that intervening in such a way would be likely to embarrass the rebels and strengthen President Assad politically. Whatever prompted it to act must have been compelling enough to override that consideration.
Israel has made it clear that arms transfers from Syria to Hezbollah would constitute a red line.
Most Western accounts believe such an arms convoy was the target. If the Jamraya complex was instead - or also - hit, as Damascus insists, the Israelis must have suspected that something seriously dangerous was going on there.
News of the attack does not appear to have generated much alarm in Washington, says the BBC's Paul Adams.
Indeed, he says, the presence in Washington of Israel's military intelligence chief suggests the Obama administration may have been told about the raid beforehand.
But Syria's foreign ministry summoned the UN commander in the Golan to deliver a formal protest, saying Israel's action violated the 1974 disengagement agreement between the two sides, who remain technically at war.
A UN observer force has been in place in the Golan since 1974, with the task of providing "an area of separation and for two equal zones of limited forces and armaments on both sides of the area".
"Syria holds Israel and those who are protecting it at the Security Council responsible for the results of the attack and confirms its right to defend its land and sovereignty," Syria said in a letter to the UN, reported by state media.
But Syria itself is hardly in a position to do much, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.
Both Hezbollah and Iran are also under pressure at the moment, and Israel's calculation must be that none of those hostile parties has an interest in triggering a regional conflagration right now, our correspondent says.
Later, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "grave concern" over reports of Israel's action, and called on all concerned to respect international law.
Syria's allies denounced Israel's action, while Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi condemned the alleged air strike as an "overt assault based on the West's policy" to undermine stability in Syria.
Russia - a stalwart defender of Syria on the international diplomatic scene despite its warming trade and economic ties with Israel - also took a strong stance.
"If this information is confirmed," said the foreign ministry, "then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the UN Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it."
Earlier Syria's ambassador to Lebanon warned Damascus could take a "surprise" decision to retaliate.
"Israel is closer today to confrontation on the northern front more than it has been at any point since the Second Lebanon War." Alex Fishman, Yedioth Ahronoth
"It could be seen as a hint to other countries, like Turkey and the US, that a military attack on Syria to topple the regime may be an option." Zvi Barel, Ha'aretz
"There have been many signs in recent days that winds of war are blowing in the north. Butâ€¦ an attack, which did or did not take place, will not lead to an immediate round of combat in the north." Amir Rapaport, Ma'ariv
"If Israel acted, as foreign publications say, the ball is in Assad's court. The problem is that in the current situation, he has no court and does not have much to lose. A wounded lion is a dangerous lion." Boaz Bismuth,Yisrael Hayom
US Vice-President Joe Biden is travelling to Germany, where he is expected to discuss the situation in Syria with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Syrian opposition leader, Moaz al-Khatib.
The Syrian army statement said the Jamraya centre - which was focused on "raising our level of resistance and self-defence" - was damaged in the attack, and specifically denied reports that an arms convoy had been hit.
It said "armed terrorist gangs" - a term the government uses to describe rebel groups - had tried and failed repeatedly to capture the same facility in recent months.
But an opposition activist told the Washington Post that, although there had been two attacks on the centre early on Wednesday, "we did not hear any airplanes... Unless the airplanes were silenced by some technology."
"I mean, is it possible for an air fighter to attack at night, and we don't even hear its sound?"
Some reports suggest the facility could be Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Centre, known by its French acronym CERS, believed to be the state organisation responsible for developing biological and chemical weapons.
Lebanese military and internal security forces say there has been increased activity by Israeli warplanes over Lebanon in the past week, and particularly on Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday morning.
There is increasing concern in Israel that Syria's chemical weapons could fall into Hezbollah's hands.
Correspondents say Israel is also concerned the Shia militant group could obtain anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, thus strengthening its ability to respond to Israeli air strikes.
Israel believes Syria received a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli air strike in 2007 that destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor near Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, analysts say.
Wednesday's reported attack came days after Israel moved its Iron Dome defence system to the north of the country.


A man who fell 50ft (15m) from a building has serious injuries but is in a stable condition, police have said.

Reports a man had fallen in the Strand in Torquay were made to emergency services at 18:50 GMT on Saturday.
A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said the injured man was taken by land ambulance to Plymouth's Derriford Hospital.
He said officers were yet to speak to the man and were unsure of the circumstances of the fall.
The spokesman added that poor weather conditions had prevented the man being taken to the hospital by air ambulance.


Tokyo has banned drones in municipal parks after one was discovered on the roof of the prime minister's residence, according to reports.

Japanese media outlets have reported that the devices are no longer allowed in any of the 81 public parks in Japan's capital city.
According to the reports, offenders could be fined Â£265.
The move comes after a drone carrying radioactive material landed on the roof of the prime ministerial residence.
A man was arrested over the incident in late April after handing himself in, Tokyo police said. Yasuo Yamamoto, 40, was protesting over the Japanese government's nuclear energy policy.
According to The Japan News, Tokyo's metropolitan government said the drones posed a danger to children.
The site reports that officials said they had no intention of imposing the penalty, but that they asked people to comply.


A blood test every four months could help women at high-risk of ovarian cancer find tumours early, say doctors.

There is currently no screening programme for the disease, so high-risk women are advised to have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.
In the trial on 4,348 women, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, cancers were detected earlier, when they should be easier to treat.
However, it is not yet clear if the regular blood test would save lives.
Breast and ovarian cancer runs in Caroline Presho's family.
The 43-year-old, from Hertfordshire, has inherited a genetic flaw called BRCA2.
"I'm a bit of a rubbish mutant," she told the BBC News website.
"I say it's like the X-Men, but I have the ability to develop cancer."
NHS Choices: Ovarian cancer
Ms Presho was advised to have surgery to reduce risk, but having the ovaries and tubes removed starts the menopause.
She said: "I was always going to have surgery, but the screening allowed me to finish having my family, and I didn't want to go through the menopause at 35.
"It's very young and starting that early has a detrimental effect on cognitive function, bone and heart health."
Without screening, the only other option would be to keep an eye out for symptoms including:
About two in every 100 women will develop ovarian cancer at some point in their life.
But the study focused on women, like Caroline, who faced a greater than one-in-10 chance.
The trial, at 42 centres across the UK, monitored levels of a chemical called CA125 in women's blood.
Three times a year, doctors tracked changes in the levels of CA125, which is produced by ovarian tissue, to see if levels became elevated - a sign of cancer.
The women also had annual scans, and surgery if doctors thought cancer was likely.
During three years of screening and the year after the last test, 19 cancers were detected. Ten of them were at an early stage.
In the five years after that, 18 more ovarian cancers were detected. But now only one of them was at an early stage.
The key principle of all cancer treatment is the earlier the tumour is found, the better the chances are of survival.
And screening was finding them earlier. However, the study has not been running for long enough to know if the screening saves lives.
While screening does detect cancer, tumours are far less likely to develop in the first place if women have surgery.
Prof Usha Menon, one of the researchers and a professor of gynaecological cancer from UCL, said: "What we're trying to do is get women to have surgery.
But she told the BBC News website: "From my point of view, women really struggle with this issue of menopause, and it seems like four-monthly screening is better than symptom awareness.
"The screening definitely picks up less advanced disease, but we cannot say for sure if we're saving lives."
Previous trials have produced insufficient evidence for mass screening of all women.
And in the US, the Food and Drug Administration recently recommended "against using currently offered tests to screen for ovarian cancer", including ones looking at CA125.
One potential issue is having a blood test could put women off surgery.
"This is what everyone's worried about," says Prof Menon. However, she pointed out there was already an issue with women delaying surgery.
She wants UK health officials to review screening and all other advice to high-risk women.
Caroline Presho had her fourth and last child - "I know I'm a lunatic," she says - in the same year as she eventually had surgery.
She told the BBC: "I think it's a very exciting prospect to have screening.
"You're told to have children before 35, but you might not have settled down or found a partner.
"It's just so stressful to feel like you've got a deadline and the only option is surgery, I think it would be an enormous benefit."
About 3% of women are in the high-risk category like Caroline.
Athena Lamnisos, the chief executive of The Eve Appeal, which part-funded the trial, said: "This research gives women hope and confidence that there is an evidence-based approach to screening if they decide to delay risk-reducing surgery."
Annwen Jones, the chief executive of Target Ovarian Cancer, said: "An effective screening programme for women at high risk of ovarian cancer due to family history would potentially have a major impact on mortality and survival from this disease.
"[But] it is still uncertain whether detecting ovarian cancer by screening increases the chance of a woman surviving the disease overall.
"Women at a higher risk of ovarian cancer still need to weigh up the risks and benefits of surveillance versus preventative surgery."
Follow James on Twitter.


Spain's Marta Figueras-Dotti will be one of Annika Sorenstam's European vice-captains for the 2017 Solheim Cup in Iowa.

Figueras-Dotti, 58, who won the Women's British Open as an amateur in 1982, is a former Junior Solheim Cup captain.
She has been a Solheim Cup team helper three times, including 2013 when Europe secured their first victory in the US.
Scotland's Catriona Matthew, another former Women's British Open champion, will also be a vice-captain.
Find out how to get into golf with our special guide.
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When people argue about free schools, they're often not really arguing about free schools.

What they're arguing about is what they think free schools will become.
Are they stalking horses for selling-off state education in England to the private sector? Or are they a test-bed for a more innovative way of running schools?
Will they be a template for creating more school choice? Or are they outriders for a fragmented, deregulated school system that side-steps local democracy?
But when you peel off the ideological wrapping paper, a free school is not really any different from many other schools.
They are academies that have been set up from scratch. They are state-funded, they don't charge fees, and they're not selective. In that respect, they are indistinguishable from a majority of secondary schools in England, which are now academies.
In announcing that the Conservatives want another 500 free schools, Mr Cameron admitted that these schools were "often not understood".
Part of the confusion might have been the initial emphasis on schools being set up by parents, driven by local demand.
The use of "parents" is always a good selling point in education, because we assume they mean parents like us, rather than those other parents we don't agree with as much.
But either way, parents are busy people, and in practice it's no great surprise that many free schools are now really being set up by academy trusts, which are in the full-time business of running schools.
The idea that traditional education providers shouldn't have a monopoly on setting up schools is a key ingredient in the free school philosophy, but it's harder to put into practice.
And if an academy trust sets up and runs a school, alongside a portfolio of other academies, within an academy chain, is it a "free school" or just another academy.
In political terms, academies were initially created by Labour and continue to be supported by Labour - and the narrowness of the distinction between an academy and a free school says something about the narrowness of the distinction in education policies.
In the end, parents want to have good schools for their children, they're not overly troubled by the rotating nameplate, which in recent years might have included grant maintained, specialist, city technology, academy or free school.
So how do free schools compare in terms of quality?
Because they sit across a political faultline, there are polarised views on standards in free schools. Polarised, but not particularly revealing.
The common characteristic of free schools is that they are new and haven't replaced existing schools. So what should they be measured against?
Schools are deemed as successful when they have sustained high results or else if they have shown big improvements. Neither really apply for new schools.
The education select committee says the evidence of inspections is still too small scale to draw any meaningful conclusions.
And when these schools are being set up by different groups in different parts of the country, success or failure in one school isn't necessarily relevant to another free-standing school hundreds of miles away.
If a new school opens in a deprived area and the results are mixed, what does it show? And if does well and begins to attract more ambitious, affluent families, is it fair then to accuse a school of "creaming off" or skewing the intake?
Such consumer behaviour in education is always double-edged. If we do it ourselves, it's doing the best for our children; but if other people behave that way, it's the pushy, sharp elbows of the middle class.
Where it does become more thorny is the question of where free schools should be located.
Here there is a much clearer tension between the idea of innovation and parental demand and the more practical pressures of needing a strategically-planned provision of places.
The other consequence of being a flagship policy is that free schools get a disproportionate amount of attention.
Even if the Conservatives achieve another 500 such schools in five years, it will mean about 900 free schools, out of a total of more than 24,000 other schools.
They might make the on-camera cameo Cameron speeches, but will they be there for the unglamorous heavy-lifting on school improvement?
408
free schools approved or open
500
more planned within 5 years under Conservatives
255 free schools currently open
163 approved or open free schools are secondaries
154 approved or open free schools are primaries
190 approved or open free schools are in London and the south east
The other big numbers ticking away in the background are the rising numbers of families looking for places for children.
The population surge that has seen primary schools adding thousands of new classrooms has now moved upstream to secondary schools.
There will be a huge demand for more school places. Whatever they're called.


Shelling by so-called Islamic State (IS) on two oil terminals in Libya has started fires that have spread to giant storage tanks, officials say.

The fires are reported to be raging in Sidra and Ras Lanouf, on the coast between Sirte and Benghazi.
Officials said at least 10 guards had been killed since IS attacked the neighbouring ports on Monday.
Warplanes from Libya's internationally recognised government have provided air support to help defend the area.
Libya has been split between rival militias and two competing governments since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
IS has been operating in Libya for about a year, and in December France warned that the group was aiming to seize the country's oil wells.
Ali al-Hassi, of the Petrol Facilities Guard militia, said on Wednesday that neither Sidra nor Ras Lanouf had fallen to IS so far.
Firefighters, he said, were trying to control blazes at four oil storage tanks in Sidra and one in Ras Lanouf - each thought to contain more than 400,000 barrels of oil.
Mr Hassi also said guards had recovered the bodies of 30 militants and had captured military vehicles.
On Monday, IS said it had taken control of the town of Bin Jawad, 30km (19 miles) west of Sidra on the road from its stronghold in Sirte.
The jihadists failed to take Sidra in an attack last October.
In December, Libya's rival politicians signed a UN-brokered deal to form a unity government, but that has not yet been implemented.


England World Cup winner Emily Scarratt will captain Team GB's 12-strong women's Olympic rugby sevens squad.

The 26-year-old centre is joined by Wales wing Jasmine Joyce, who is the only female non-English player.
Glasgow Warriors centre Mark Bennett, who has 16 caps for Scotland, is one of four players from the 15-a-side game included in the men's squad.
The others are Scarlets' James Davies, Harlequins' Ollie Lindsay-Hague and Newcastle's Marcus Watson.
All four have previous sevens experience.
Davies is one of two Welshmen included, alongside Wales Sevens player Sam Cross, while Scotland Sevens regular Mark Robertson also makes the cut, with the rest of the squad coming from the England Sevens set-up, and Tom Mitchell as captain.
Britain's men will face New Zealand, Kenya and Japan at Rio, while the women play Brazil, Canada and Japan.
The confirmation of Team GB's rugby sevens players brings to an end all squad announcements before the games, which begin on 5 August.
Team GB chef de mission Mark England believes this is their "most talented team ever".
Rio marks the first time rugby sevens has appeared at the Olympics, although the 15-a-side game featured at the 1924 Games.
Team GB's women - under the guidance of Simon Middleton - have trained together since October, while the men's group coaches by Simon Amor assembled as late as May.
Great Britain sevens men: Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors, hometown - Glasgow), Dan Bibby (England Sevens, Putney), Phil Burgess (England Sevens, Farnborough), Sam Cross (Wales Sevens, Newport), Alex Davis (England Sevens, Bristol), James Davies, (Carmarthen), Ollie Lindsay Hague (Harlequins, London), Tom Mitchell (England Sevens, Wandsworth), Dan Norton (England Sevens, Bristol), James Rodwell (England Sevens, Cotteridge), Mark Robertson (Scotland Sevens, Galashiels), Marcus Watson (England Sevens, Weybridge).
Travelling reserves: Luke Treharne (Wales Sevens), Ruaridh McConnochie (England Sevens).
Great Britain sevens women: Claire Allan (England Sevens, Ealing), Abbie Brown (England Sevens, Exeter), Heather Fisher (England Sevens, Birmingham), Natasha Hunt (England Sevens, Gloucester), Jasmine Joyce (Wales Sevens, Haverfordwest), Katy McLean (England Sevens, South Shields), Alice Richardson (England Sevens, Worcester), Emily Scarratt (England Sevens, Leicester), Emily Scott (England Sevens, Corringham), Danielle Waterman (England Sevens, Bristol), Joanne Watmore, (England Sevens, Chester), Amy Wilson-Hardy (England Sevens, Poole).
Travelling reserves: Megan Jones (England Sevens) and Kay Wilson (England Sevens).


A 600-year-old china Ming cup, valued at about £2m, is to be sold by Staffordshire University.

The Stem Cup, which dates back to about 1425, was the most valuable of more than 250 items bequeathed to the university by Ernest Thornhill in 1944.
The value of the artefacts means the university cannot afford to securely exhibit the collection, and the money raised by selling the cup will go towards building a new display centre.
It is due to be auctioned next year.
Deputy vice-chancellor of the university, Rosy Crehan, said: "It is clear from the bequest that Ernest Thornhill intended his collection to be used as a study resource.
"We envisage that proceeds from the sale of the Stem Cup will enable us to comply with the original bequest and give our students full and proper access to this historically significant collection of oriental ceramics - some of which are dated to be over 3,000 years old."
The collection contains Chinese wares along with some Korean and Japanese pieces.
Ernest Thornhill was a pharmacist from London who collected Oriental ceramics.
He donated several pieces to the British Museum as well as the then-North Staffordshire Technical College, which became part of the university in 1992.


A judge has ordered Amazon to refund the parents of children who made in-app purchases on Kindle and Android devices without their consent between 2011 and 2014.

Seattle-based Judge John Coughenour ordered the firm to run the refund process for 12 months beginning in January 2017.
It follows successful legal action by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
However the FTC's call for a lump refund of $25.6m (Â£20m) was rejected.
Judge Coughenour said the figure was "too high", Reuters reported.
He also turned down Amazon's request to offer reimbursement in the form of gift cards.
The option of paying for extra content inside mobile apps such as games and music platforms was launched by Amazon and other platforms in 2011.
Parents complained that it was too easy for children to make purchases, either by accident or without authorisation, while playing games.
The FTC launched legal action in 2014.
"When Amazon introduced in-app charges to the Amazon Appstore in November 2011, there were no password requirements of any kind on in-app charges, including in kids' games and other apps that appeal to children," it said at the time.
It also gave the example of a game called Ice Age Village, in which children were able to use free "acorns" or "coins" as currency but were also able to purchase more of them with actual money in a scene that was "visually similar" to the free exchange.
Since 2014, Amazon has changed how in-app purchases are described in its app store and refined its authorisation experience.
In-app purchases can be disabled completely with the company's parental control options.
When it sued Amazon in 2014, the FTC also launched legal action against Apple and Google.
In separate settlements Apple agreed to refund customers more than $30m (Â£20m) and Google about $19m (Â£13m).
The judge ruled against Amazon in April 2016 and has now issued the refund order.
The FTC and Amazon have been contacted by the BBC for comment.


The former BHS owner, Dominic Chappell, says he is preparing a bid to buy BHS out of administration.

He told the BBC the administrators had been informed and talks with US based investors were at a "mature" stage.
However, a senior retail source also informed the BBC they were "extremely sceptical" about the move, given Mr Chappell's recent track record.
BHS went into administration on Monday, putting 11,000 jobs at risk.
So far the administrators of BHS have received 50 expressions of interest in the company - some for all of it, most for parts of it.
Mr Chappell said he was interested in buying the whole group minus 40 loss-making stores, now that the pension fund is to be taken over by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).
"Our hands have been untied now that the pension situation has been resolved," he told the BBC.
Is Dominic Chappell's BHS bid serious?
BHS: Where has all the money gone?
Sir Philip Green: From 'King of the High Street' to 'Unacceptable Face of Capitalism'
'What we'll miss if BHS closes'
Mr Chappell is the majority shareholder of Retail Acquisitions which bought BHS for £1 last year from Sir Philip Green, and took on a £571m pension deficit.
On Tuesday last week he moved £1.5m to a company called BHS Sweden, unconnected to BHS, which was owned by a friend and fellow board member of Mr Chappell at Retail Acquisitions.
On learning of this, BHS chief executive Darren Topp demanded its return on Wednesday and on Thursday it was returned minus £50,000, to reflect, said Mr Chappell, the foreign exchange costs.
Meanwhile, Sir Philip Green has been asked to appear in front of a cross-party committee of MPs to face questions about BHS' collapse and the impact it might have on the PPF, which will now have to take over the BHS pension liabilities.
One Labour MP John Mann, and member of the Treasury select committee, has said Sir Philip must repay £400m of dividends that were paid out of BHS, or give up his knighthood.
The pensions regulator is also investigating whether BHS's previous owners sought to avoid their obligations.
The shops continue to operate as normal and on Tuesday reported their strongest day of trading since the business was acquired by Retail Acquisitions. Trading was up 80% compared to the same day last year.
Restructuring firm Duff & Phelps, who have been appointed joint administrators, said in a statement: "The group will continue to trade as usual whilst the administrators seek to sell it as a going concern."


Norbrook Holdings, the pharmaceutical firm based in Newry, increased its pre-tax profit by 65% to £35.5m last year.

The performance was achieved on turnover of £239m, which was up by 11%.
Liam Nagle, the chief executive officer, said it had been "another strong year, where we have seen increasing revenue in all regions".
The firm specialises in veterinary medicines and is one of Northern Ireland's biggest exporters.
Non-UK sales account for more than 80% of the firm's turnover.
Five new products launched in the last year helping to drive business in the US and EU, up 16% and 24% respectively.
Mr Nagle said the firm has started a "significant multi-year capital investment programme."
It will include the upgrading and expansion of manufacturing facilities, new laboratories and the strengthening of IT infrastructure.
Norbrook was founded by Lord Ballyedmond who died in a helicopter crash at his estate in Norfolk in 2014.
His family continues to own the company, which employs some 2,000 people.


MPs have given initial support to the idea of England adopting an official national anthem.

God Save the Queen, the national anthem for the UK as a whole, is currently used for England during most sporting events.
However, Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins believes England needs its own anthem and presented his case in the House of Commons as a ten minute rule motion.
His English National Anthem Bill was adopted by the House.
The idea will be debated again at a second reading on 4 March.
The bill would bestow a responsibility on the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to hold a consultation across the UK, and Mr Perkins suggested there could even be an "X Factor style programme" to select a song.
Goodbye to God Save the Queen?
Jerusalem's meaning
Mr Perkins said it "seemed incongruous" for the English to sing about Britain when their teams play against other home nations, while the Welsh and Scots sing an anthem that reflects their nation's identity.
"It reflects a sense that we see Britain and England as synonymous," he said.
"This not only denies us English an opportunity to celebrate the nation that is being represented but is also a cause for resentment amongst other countries within the British Isles who feel that England have requisitioned a British song."
But his proposal for an English anthem was opposed by Jacob Rees-Mogg, Conservative MP for North East Somerset.
"When the honourable gentleman for Chesterfield said that now English crowds take St George's flag rather than the Union Jack, to me that's a matter of pity, of shame, that we have given up viewing ourselves as one United Kingdom, whether we are supporting England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland," he said.
"These expressions of the individual nationalism are a disuniting factor in our country, in a country that we ought to want to make more united," he said.
Mr Perkins said there had been a lot of interest in choosing an anthem when he spoke on radio stations across England.
"I won't say which area it was that thought the most appropriate choice for an English national anthem should be Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," he said.
"It will remain a secret between myself and the listeners of BBC Humberside, but it was perhaps reflective that each local area has its own sense of what Englishness means."
Campaign group England In My Heart wants Jerusalem to be adopted and arranged for a van with loudspeakers to drive around Parliament playing the song ahead of the debate.
"It's about time England was able to celebrate being English at sporting events," said group member Eddie Bone.
"Let the Scots and the Welsh celebrate theirs and then we come together at the end and sing God Save the Queen."
Another campaign group, Anthem 4 England, said Jerusalem has come out as favourite in previous polls.
Member Gareth Young said it was his personal favourite too.
"It's a beautiful song and it actually mentions and is about England, unlike its competitors," he said.
He said people wrongly think it's a hymn and also "object to the fact that it references a Middle Eastern city" but said these objections were "largely based on ignorance" as Jerusalem was a metaphor for a better place.
Using the UK anthem as the English anthem was an "unnecessary strain on relations between England and Scotland" in the wake of the independence referendum, he added.
"God Save the Queen is the British anthem and should belong equally to the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish," he said.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said that Jerusalem would be his choice for England's national anthem, according to the ConservativeHome website.
Jerusalem was chosen as the anthem to be played for English athletes competing at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi following a month-long public vote.
The England cricket team have used Jerusalem as an unofficial anthem for more than a decade - but still also sing God Save The Queen before many matches.
Land of Hope and Glory - which was used by England at the Commonwealth Games before 2010 - often comes up as second choice, behind Jerusalem, in public polls.
Toby Perkins said I Vow To Thee, My Country and There'll Always Be an England were also options.
Campaigners have also suggested creating an anthem from scratch.


The £15bn pension pot of Wales' council workers past and present and their dependants could be pooled to cut management costs, a report has said.

There are eight groups managing the pension funds of Wales' 22 councils.
Pooling money could cut overheads and "significantly reduce costs", the report to Flintshire council said.
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), which represents councils, said there was "broad agreement" to pool investments by the local authorities.
Flintshire council looks after Clwyd Pension Fund which manages £1.6bn for 40,000 people with ties to Wrexham, Denbighshire and Flintshire councils.
The other local government pension funds are administered by Carmarthenshire, Cardiff, Gwynedd, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea and Torfaen councils.
"The aim is to reduce investment management costs through joint governance arrangements and to share knowledge and best practice," said a spokesman for the WLGA.
"This will improve the management of investment risks and, ultimately, improve fund returns."


The BBC has found that women who come from families that follow codes of honour are being deliberately targeted for financial gain.

In one case, a woman says she parted with more than Â£17,000 after her lover secretly filmed them having sex.
A BBC Newsnight investigation has heard the stories of more than 100 women who have been the target of "revenge porn," but is, in fact, often premeditated.
In many cases, the images are hardly pornographic.
"Soraya" (not her real name) was just 16 when a man she met on Facebook persuaded her to send naked pictures to him online.  A sheltered British teenager of Pakistani origin, she had never had a boyfriend before.
She was "terrified" when he threatened to send the photos to her family if she did not give him money.  She handed over Â£500.
"Sara" married a man in an Islamic ceremony and planned to spend the rest of her life with him. He later created a website promoting her as an escort and sent it to high profile members of her local Muslim community. Both women come from families that strictly follow codes of honour and shame.
Images like these can be devastating, as Shereen Aziz-Williams from the honour-based violence campaign group, The Henna Foundation, explained: "The consequences are getting disowned, ostracised, being packed off back home to be married or, in the worst case scenario, getting killed."
BBC Newsnight heard testimony from another South Asian woman who said she was being blackmailed by an Indian man with whom she had a relationship.  He wants a British visa and has threatened to use intimate photos of her unless she marries him.
Sara told us she later discovered the man who exposed her has also done it to three other Bangladeshi women. Soraya heard her abuser also targeted other young women.
Williams explained: "It could be a girl who usually wears a scarf, who's not wearing one; or a girl showing her arms, or posing seductively fully clothed, that's deemed inappropriate."
"Soraya" ended up under police protection after a friend alerted them that she was at risk of forced marriage. Although she had paid money to stop her family finding out about the photos, she believes the rumours got out anyway.
She told the BBC: "You can lose so much for your family even finding out.  It's such a risk.  I do strongly believe that the rumours did get out.  The threats were to take me back to my father's homeland, Pakistan, and get married off and stay there.
"What my dad used to threaten me by saying was, 'I'll cut up all your pieces of your body and put it in a suitcase and bury it in the garden. And I actually genuinely thought he meant it."
Colette Paul, chief constable of the Bedfordshire Police told BBC Newsnight: "People pick on vulnerable people because they do know the shame and dishonour they are perceived to bring is a method to control them.  Not in all cases, but some.  It's not someone who's jilted them, it's an even more serious crime. They are targeted."
This week, the new law to combat revenge porn came into force in England and Wales. It makes it a specific offence with a potential two year jail sentence.
But will it make a difference to the women whose testimony the BBC heard? Perhaps only if they are willing to report what has happened to the police and if their communities address the codes of honour and shame that see their daughters blamed instead of treated as victims.
You can watch the full Newsnight report by going to BBC iPlayer


A woman with a fear of snakes discovered a 2ft-long kingsnake curled up in her kitchen drawer.

She was making dinner in her flat in the Leith area of Edinburgh when she made the discovery.
The woman called for a friend to help contain the animal, only to find it had disappeared.
It was later found in a cupboard and is now being cared for by the Scottish SPCA, which has named him Zak while it tries to trace his owner.
The California Kingsnake is non-venomous but can bite and rattle its tail.
It is thought he may have squeezed through the pipework in the block of flats.
Fiona Thorburn, of the Scottish SPCA, said: "The lady was just about to have her dinner and got a real fright when she reached into the drawer to grab cutlery and found Zak curled up on the knives and forks.
"As she has a phobia of snakes, she called her friend for help to contain him only to discover that he had disappeared from the drawer.
"Thankfully they managed to locate him in a cupboard elsewhere in the kitchen before he sneaked away.
"Zak is quite large for an escapee and it's usually smaller snakes that can squeeze through pipework in flats.
"However, all snakes can be really good escape artists, so there's every chance Zak has an owner nearby who is looking for him."


A mother who duped her former partner into thinking she had an abortion in order to give his child to her gay friend has been jailed for three years.

The 29-year-old was found guilty of the "cynical and calculated plot" following a trial at Perth Sheriff Court.
The child's father was told his former partner had had an abortion, and that the baby in question had been supplied by a fictional surrogate mother.
The woman's 35-year-old friend were also jailed for three years.
During a six-day trial, the court heard that the child's mother and her friend had signed a birth certificate and claimed to be the child's natural parents, but DNA tests later proved this was not the case.
The con came to light when the real biological father was told the baby looked very like him, and he went to police.
It came to light that the supposed surrogate mother, a lawyer called Clare Green, had been invented by the two accused, who set up a fake Facebook account in that name.
The father has since taken custody of his child.
Jailing the duo, Sheriff William Wood said: "In all respects this was an elaborate and cynical scheme.
"Neither of you have accepted responsibility for your conduct. You have little insight into your actions and the consequences for others. The maintenance of your innocence does neither of you any credit.
"You persisted in this wicked scheme for a period of almost three years, until the father was able to get to the truth. Had it not been for his determination there may well have been further damage to this child.
"The social work report says your conduct is likely to have caused lasting psychological damage, or at least trauma, to this child. You denied the father the opportunity to parent his child for a significant period of time."


England goalkeeper Joe Hart does not believe Manchester City will price him out of a move, but says he is yet to receive an offer.

Hart, 30, spent last season on loan at Torino after being told he was free to leave City by manager Pep Guardiola.
Claudio Bravo arrived as a replacement last August and last week City bought Ederson Moraes for £35m from Benfica.
"I need an offer first and then I need to work out my options if I have choices," said Hart.
"I'm not a kid any more, I can't just pack my stuff like a 19, 17-year-old and go on loan. I am a 30-year-old man with stuff I need to organise. I like stability.
"I've got nothing at the moment because I think people are focused on international duty and respecting that players are focusing on international duty," added Hart before England's friendly with France on Tuesday.
Hart, who was beaten by two Leigh Griffiths free-kicks in the 2-2 draw against Scotland, has recently been linked with a move to West Ham.
Hart said he "doesn't know" what City's asking price is for him, but added: "I certainly don't think they are going to try and price me out of a move.
"I think there's enough respect between the player and club.
"We're going to work together, there's no point in working against each other. There is no animosity between the two. They are going in their direction and I need to go in mine."


Theresa May is expected to reveal the most detailed insight yet into her approach to Brexit negotiations, in a speech on Tuesday.

She will urge people to give up on "insults" and "division" and unite to build a "global Britain".
Downing Street said reports she may signal pulling out of the single market and customs union were "speculation".
It comes as the chancellor said the UK could "change its economic model" if it loses access to the single market.
The BBC's political correspondent, Chris Mason, said Downing Street was confirming little about precisely what Mrs May would say in her Brexit plan speech, but "a possible route map the prime minister could be preparing to follow is emerging".
Her desire to control immigration suggested giving up the UK's existing membership of the single market, he added, while her enthusiasm for trade deals with countries such as New Zealand implied leaving the customs union.
Several of Sunday's newspapers claim Mrs May will indicate she is prepared to outline a "hard Brexit" approach.
The Sunday Telegraph quoted a government source as saying: "She's gone for the full works. People will know when she said 'Brexit means Brexit', she really meant it."
In her speech, the prime minister is expected to call on the country to "put an end to the division" created by the EU referendum result.
She will urge the UK to leave behind words such as "Leaver and Remainer and all the accompanying insults and unite to make a success of Brexit and build a truly global Britain".
Mrs May is also expected to outline a commitment to building a Britain more open to the rest of the world while building a new relationship with EU countries.
On Friday, she met New Zealand's prime minister Bill English who said he wanted to negotiate a "high quality" free trade agreement with the UK once it left the EU.
Mrs May said she was looking forward to starting talks on what she called a "bold" new trade deal between the two countries.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Brexit Secretary David Davis said the government needed to persuade EU allies that a "strong new partnership" with the UK would allow the EU to prosper.
He admitted agreeing new terms would be "testing" and suggested there might be a transitional arrangement to ensure Britain's exit was a smooth process.
However, Chancellor Philip Hammond told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag he hoped Britain would remain a European-style economy with corresponding tax and regulation systems.
But he said the UK could be "forced to be something different" if it was "closed off" from the single market, suggesting corporation tax could be lowered to "regain competitiveness".
MPs have urged the prime minister to spell out whether she wants the UK to remain in the single market and customs union before Brexit talks begin.
Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said businesses and trade unions wanted to retain full access to the single market and called on Mrs May to explain how a bespoke trade deal would work.
Writing in the Observer, he said: "The government must be open enough to provide robust impact assessments of leaving the single market or the customs union, including region-by-region and sector-by-sector analysis."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has previously said he supports "reasonable management" of immigration but insists it must be set against continued access to European markets for British businesses.
Conservative MP and former education secretary Nicky Morgan, who supported remaining in the EU, said "maximum participation" in the single market should be a key factor in the Brexit negotiating strategy.
"The government will be doing a disservice to the country and to both Leave and Remain voters if it dogmatically pursues a hard, destructive Brexit where immigration control is the be all and end all, our economy is undermined, and people are left poorer," she added.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has said the party would vote against Article 50 unless the British people were given a referendum on the final Brexit deal.


A father accused of murdering his partner has told a court he killed her by hurling an imitation Faberge egg at her after she confessed to an affair.

Natalie Hemming, 31, was found dead in woodland near Chandlers Cross, Hertfordshire, on 22 May.
Paul Hemming denies murder but admitted manslaughter at the start of his trial at Luton Crown Court.
He told the jury the heavy egg, made of jade, hit Miss Hemming's head, causing her to fall into a coffee table.
He said he then realised she was not breathing, telling the jury: "I couldn't believe I had done it. I just thought...I'm in trouble. How am I going to explain it to the kids upstairs? So then I thought I am going to cover this up."
When he was asked why, he replied: "Because I knew I had killed her."
Miss Hemming was last seen alive in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, on 1 May.
The court was told Mr Hemming drove Miss Hemming to a wooded area 30 miles away from the couple's home in Alderney Avenue, Newton Leys in Milton Keynes, where he left her body in undergrowth.
The jury has been told their relationship was difficult and Miss Hemming had told her partner she wanted to leave him for another man.
In court, Mr Hemming admitted he was "heartbroken" at the prospect of them splitting up, but he denied claims he had been violent towards Miss Hemming shortly before her death.
When asked what he was thinking when he threw the Â£1,000 egg, he replied: "I have no idea what was in my mind."
He said he had not intended to kill her.
The trial continues.


Homebuyers pay an average premium of £125,000 to live in some of the country's most scenic locations, according to new research.

House prices in some national parks can be up to double what they are in the surrounding area, said a report from Lloyds Bank.
It found that buyers in England and Wales pay an average £125,796 extra for living in a national park.
Homes in the New Forest had the highest premium, and were the most expensive.
Houses there cost on average £259,066, more than double the cost of homes outside the park boundary.
However anyone in search of spectacular countryside might find better value in the mountains of Snowdonia in North Wales.
Homes there cost an average of £173,779, just 5% more than other properties nearby.
Over the past ten years, prices have risen fastest on Exmoor, which straddles Devon and Somerset, with a 47% increase between 2004 and 2014.
Lloyds Bank said one reason for the price rises was the fact that many homes in national parks are purchased as second homes - or holiday properties.
"The disadvantage is that the resulting high property prices have made it very difficult for many of those living and working in such locations to afford to buy their own home, said Marc Page, Lloyds Bank mortgages director.
"This situation has deteriorated in recent years, as prices have risen more rapidly than earnings," he said.
A recent survey by the National Housing Federation (NHF) found that many rural areas were relatively more expensive than London, once the level of local earnings was taken into consideration.
Northumberland National Park was excluded from the report, because of the low number of house sales.


A park-and-ride firm was paid £400,000 a year despite not running any buses since 2010, it has emerged.

The deal for the Long Ashton site made the council look "totally incompetent" and threatened "to turn it into a laughing stock" a Tory councillor said.
John Goulandris said money had been wasted paying the firm Park-and-Ride (PRL) for years after the council was obliged to do so.
The city's transport boss said the subsidy had stopped the service ending.
The site on the outskirts of Bristol was built in 1997 and leased to PRL.
The council subsidised it for the first six years, but after that the service was not profitable and the council ended up running the buses.
Mr Goulandris said: "Local taxpayers will be rightly outraged that we appear to have been paying this company a huge subsidy, amounting to between £5m-£6m, simply on being invoiced for managing the park-and-ride site.
"Whilst I appreciate there is a lot of anguish over the current wholesale review of council expenditure to identify potential savings, this exposé demonstrates that the local authority has been incredibly wasteful - even blasé - over the use of its resources."
Mr Goulandris said there should now be a review "into who agreed such a one-sided bargain".
1,500
parking spaces
£4 adult fare on 903 route (before 1000) to city centre. £3 off-peak and Saturday
£3.70 adult fare on 505 route
Peter Mann,  the council's director of transport, said if it had not continued with the subsidy after 2002 "there would be no park-and-ride", which he described as "critical to the city".
The authority revealed it had been paying the subsidy for 14 years beyond its contractual obligation, during a budget review.
Officers advised an immediate end to the payments which was passed by council.
Mr Mann said the authority was looking to see if it could reduce costs so the service can continue.
"We need to continue the private dialogue with NCP [which owns PRL]... to come to a sensible conclusion."
NCP said while it was in "active dialogue" with the council "it would be inappropriate to comment any further."
But in a In a letter from NCP's solicitors  it said if the council removes the payments "our client would... reconsider the commercial viability of continuing the P&R operation".
Bristol City Council has yet to comment.


Celtic eased past Albion Rovers at Excelsior Stadium and into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.

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Scott Sinclair's class separated the teams at half-time, as he found the top corner from the edge of the box with a stunning finish.
Celtic finished strongly and Dedryck Boyata headed off the bar before Moussa Dembele made it two when he turned home Scott Brown's cut-back.
Stuart Armstrong added a late third with a tap-in.
Albion Rovers' approach was to try to crowd Celtic out. With the home side's defence sitting so deep, Celtic's most effective attacking ploy was to overload the flanks.
James Forrest, on the right, and Sinclair, on the left, encouraged this to happen by driving infield to make space for Cristian Gamboa and Kieran Tierney to surge beyond them from full-back.
Sinclair and Forrest saw plenty of the ball, with their movement and trickery a constant threat for the Albion defenders to contend with.
Sinclair saw one effort well blocked by Albion goalkeeper Ross Stewart before he made the breakthrough. His goal was a brilliant piece of improvisation, looping the ball over Stewart, who would have thought the ball was going over before it dipped sharply into the top corner.
Sinclair also created a chance for Forrest after the break, but the left-foot shot was stopped at the second attempt by Stewart. Gamboa also tried his luck from 20 yards but pulled his shot wide.
The home side only had one viable game plan to employ: defending deep, with the back four narrow to protect the penalty box and five players strung across midfield, to reduce the space for Celtic to attack into.
The ploy worked, since Celtic seldom managed to work the ball behind the defensive line, which was well marshalled by the Dunlop brothers, Ross and Michael, in central defence. The drawback was that the home side were unable to build passages of possession to ease the pressure they were under.
Paul Willis and Ross C Stewart swapped between the centre-forward and right-wing positions throughout the game, but were always isolated when up front. The midfield three of Gary Fisher, Mark Ferry and Ross Davidson worked manfully, but mental and physical fatigue became a factor.
As Celtic penned them in during the second half, Boyata headed off the crossbar and Jozo Simunovic's effort from close range was hacked off the line by Ross Dublin.
With Brown and Nir Bitton sitting deep in midfield, Armstrong had licence to surge forward from a more advanced position.
Hard running has been a feature of his play this season, and the energy and vitality of Armstrong's display was important to maintaining Celtic's intensity. He delivered a fierce shot in the first half that Stewart tipped over and he swept another effort towards goal after the break, but the ball flew above the bar.
Even when Armstrong was not bursting beyond the attackers, the threat was still posed. One run by Brown into the penalty area ended with his cut-back being converted by Dembele.
In the final stages, Armstrong jinked past two challenges on the edge of the area before drilling a shot on target that Stewart saved. Moments later, he would not be denied, clipping the ball high into the net from close range.
Match ends, Albion Rovers 0, Celtic 3.
Second Half ends, Albion Rovers 0, Celtic 3.
Goal!  Albion Rovers 0, Celtic 3. Stuart Armstrong (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Patrick Roberts.
Attempt blocked. Scott Sinclair (Celtic) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt saved. Stuart Armstrong (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Alan Reid (Albion Rovers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Patrick Roberts (Celtic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Alan Reid (Albion Rovers).
Foul by Patrick Roberts (Celtic).
Michael Dunlop (Albion Rovers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Cristian Gamboa (Celtic).
Gary Fisher (Albion Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Dedryck Boyata (Celtic).
(Albion Rovers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Scott Sinclair (Celtic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Kevin McCann (Albion Rovers).
Foul by Stuart Armstrong (Celtic).
Ross Gilmour (Albion Rovers) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, Albion Rovers. Kevin McCann replaces Kyle Turnbull.
Goal!  Albion Rovers 0, Celtic 2. Moussa Dembele (Celtic) right footed shot from very close range to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Scott Brown.
Substitution, Celtic. Patrick Roberts replaces James Forrest.
Substitution, Albion Rovers. Ross Gilmour replaces Mark Ferry.
Attempt blocked. Moussa Dembele (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Corner,  Celtic. Conceded by Alan Reid.
Dedryck Boyata (Celtic) hits the bar with a header from the right side of the six yard box.
Corner,  Celtic. Conceded by Ross Stewart.
Attempt saved. Moussa Dembele (Celtic) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is saved in the bottom left corner.
Foul by Moussa Dembele (Celtic).
Alan Reid (Albion Rovers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt missed. Moussa Dembele (Celtic) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left.
James Forrest (Celtic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Ross Davidson (Albion Rovers).
Substitution, Albion Rovers. Calum Ferguson replaces Ross Stewart.
Foul by Moussa Dembele (Celtic).
Michael Dunlop (Albion Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Celtic. Callum McGregor replaces Kieran Tierney.
Attempt missed. Cristian Gamboa (Celtic) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left.
Attempt missed. Stuart Armstrong (Celtic) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high.
Foul by Scott Brown (Celtic).
Gary Fisher (Albion Rovers) wins a free kick in the attacking half.


On Sunday, the New England Patriots staged a stunning comeback to beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in the 51st Super Bowl.

So, if you've been inspired by the action in Texas, why not grab your mates and give it a go yourself?
Here former New York Giants team-mates Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell, both of whom won the Super Bowl, give you their tips for starting your own game day.
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Check out our rookie's guide to learn the key rules, the player positions and the ultimate aim of the game.
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American football can be played at adult,university and junior levels.
It's a very welcoming, inclusive environment and athletes with a disability are welcome to play too, although there is no formal competition structure in the UK for adapted American football.
Clubs are always on the lookout for new members, with many able to provide taster sessions and full kit for practice and games. Why not check out our activity finder to find a session in your area?
Charlie Novak plays for the Manchester Titans - one of the growing number of women in a male-dominated sport. Here's the inspiring story of how she went from not playing sports to being defensive captain of her team.
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Meet eight-year-old Isaiah Bird, who was born with no legs and plays American football for his local team in New York.
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And if you are still looking for ways to get involved head to our guide where you can find all the help you need to start playing.


Sohail Khan marked his first Test for five years with 5-96 as Pakistan bowled England out for 297 on the opening day of the third Test at Edgbaston.

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Recalled after Pakistan's 330-run defeat at Old Trafford, Sohail, 32, justified the decision to bowl first in seamer-friendly conditions.
Gary Ballance made 70 and Moeen Ali 63 to help England recover from 158-5, Alastair Cook having fallen for 45.
Mohammad Amir took 2-53, Rahat Ali 2-83 and Sarfraz Ahmed five catches.
Pakistan - and captain Misbah-ul-Haq - could be pleased with their day's work, particularly given their thrashing inside four days in the second Test.
With the four-match series level at 1-1, much will rest on how England's seamers perform - and how an unpredictable Pakistan bat - on Thursday under what are expected to remain overcast skies.
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Right-arm seamer Sohail, who boasted combined figures of 1-245 from his two previous Tests, in 2009 and 2011, was the unlikely architect of England's top-order collapse.
On a pitch that had spent the previous 24 hours under cover, he found sufficient lateral movement to claim four wickets in 15 overs courtesy of outside edges.
The out-of-form Alex Hales, defending on the back foot, was caught behind for 17 and Joe Root, who scored 325 runs in the second Test, edged to first slip for three when attempting to force through the off side.
Captain Alastair Cook, having batted fluently for 45 off 52 balls, was lbw pushing forward to Rahat Ali, but Ballance helped James Vince add 69 for the fourth wicket.
Sohail switched ends to have Vince, hesitant in leaving outside off stump, well taken low by Younus Khan at second slip for 39.
When Jonny Bairstow was caught behind off Sohail trying to cut one that was too close to his body, England were a precarious 158-5.
That they almost reached 300 owed much to Ballance, who combined watchful defence from the crease with clips off his pads and the occasional pushed drive to make his first Test half-century since last summer.
He and the unusually restrained Moeen put on 66 in 27 overs, the partnership broken only when Ballance tickled leg-spinner Yasir Shah down the leg side and keeper Sarfraz Ahmed took a splendid catch.
Moeen was persuaded to play with more aggression after Chris Woakes edged Rahat behind and Stuart Broad flashed the first delivery with the new ball high to third slip.
Moeen eventually fell to a flat-footed waft at Amir, while Sohail curtailed Steven Finn's late flurry by pinning last man James Anderson lbw.
A delighted Sohail reprised Pakistan's celebrations after winning the first Test by performing press-ups as he left the pitch.
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Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott on BBC Test Match Special: "The decision by Misbah was a calculated gamble. It was partly negative because he was wary of Anderson. Secondly, he saw something in the pitch that most of us didn't.
"England all out for less than 300 - Misbah will be thinking he's done all right."
Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan: "It's been a fascinating day. England will know they could have got more - but they've got a score they can bowl at.
"If Pakistan are going to go big they've got to do it in the first innings. On a pitch like this, if they bat badly, you can see a team being bowled out for 150."
England batsman Gary Ballance: "It was tough the whole day. Pakistan were always in the game; it kept you honest.
"If we bowl well, this could be a par score. With a bit of cloud cover, we bowl well and get a second-innings lead, we will have a chance."
Pakistan's Sohail Khan on Sky Sports: "When I played my first two Test matches, the pitches were flat and it didn't swing for me.
"But I worked hard and it paid off. Good areas are good areas wherever you are - you can bowl against any batsman if you hit the right area."
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A year ago, reporting from Simferopol about the takeover of Crimea by Russia was a tense and difficult business.

At any moment, as the gangs of activists who had flooded across the border swaggered through the city streets, violence seemed on the point of breaking out. Today, Simferopol is completely peaceful.
There are no soldiers on the streets, and no one stops us as we set up our television camera in the main square, overlooked by its statue of Lenin, or asks us for accreditation.
The reason is simple: the transfer of Crimea from Ukraine to Russia has become an accepted fact.
When a few pro-Ukrainian supporters gathered the other day at the statue of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in Simferopol to mark the anniversary of his birth, they were quickly moved on.
Three demonstrators were arrested - apparently for wearing Ukrainian colours - tried, and sentenced to a few hours' community service.
"I was fired from work today because it was considered it wasn't appropriate for my job," said one of them, Leonid Kuzmin, a young pro-Ukrainian teacher. "We will obey the law, but we are going to fight it in the courts."
"Crimea will never return to Ukraine," says the region's prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov. "The decision has been made once and for all."
The decision he means was the referendum a year ago which gave overwhelming endorsement to those who wanted Crimea to return to Russian control.
Mr Aksyonov, a burly, jovial figure who is often alleged to have been involved in gangland activity in the past, admits that he was not told beforehand of the plans by Russia's President Vladimir Putin to take back Crimea early last year.
But he became a significant figure in what Western countries regard as effectively a coup d'etat.
According to an opinion poll in February conducted by pollster GfK, 93% of the people asked said that they were happy that Crimea was under Russian control.
Such an overwhelming figure might look distinctly Soviet, or even North Korean; but the polling organisation which conducted it was Ukrainian, not Russian.
And even though plenty of people no doubt thought it would be better to give the safe answer, the general sense of peace and quiet on the streets seems to indicate that they accept what has happened.
The demographics of Crimea go a long way towards explaining why things are so calm here a year on.
The most recent figures indicate that something like 60% of the population are ethnic Russians, 25% ethnic Ukrainians, and 12% Crimean Tatars.
Given that many pro-Ukrainians have left, the Russians are probably proportionately in even more of a majority.
In our interview, Mr Aksyonov was reassuring.
"Neither the Crimean Tatars nor the Ukrainians have any reason to worry," he said.
"The only people who need to worry are those who are trying to destabilise the situation."
But that does not ease the anxieties of either group.
The Tatars used to have their own parliament here, but last September it was abolished, and the building closed down.
In the street outside it, I talked to a former Tatar MP, Zair Smerdlyav.
"Today," he said, "various actions are being taken against the Tatar people: kidnappings, killings, arrests and fines."
At the local Tatar television station, ATR, the staff feel that they are in constant danger of being closed down, though they continue to report what they regard as violations of human rights.
But the authorities clearly prefer to keep the situation here as calm as they can.
In one school I visited for instance, the main medium of instruction has been changed from the Ukrainian language to Russian; but if parents want their children to continue learning in Ukrainian, the school accommodates them.
Thirty-one classes are now taught in Russian, and nine in Ukrainian.  Some children are also taught in the Tatar language, if their parents  choose.
"We leave politics completely out of the school environment," says headmistress Valentina Lavrik. "Tolerance is the main principle in our team."
Going round from class to class, it was certainly my impression that this was genuine.
But there was no doubt that a major change had happened to the school, just has it has to Crimea as a whole.
In the library there is now a big, smiling photograph of Mr Putin, and his office has devoted a number of works of Russian literature to the school.
The history taught here is Russian history, not Ukrainian.
Crimea has always looked and felt Russian, and it has played an important part in the history that is now taught at its schools.
That is certainly the way the great majority of Russians feel.  Getting it back has given Mr Putin a huge political boost at home.
The outside world's response has made life a little harder for people here.
There are now some empty shelves in the otherwise full and attractive supermarkets.
You cannot use Western credit cards here or use an international phone.
Mr Aksyonov's government will have its work cut out to help the businesses of Crimea or to attract foreign tourists to what is one of the most attractive parts of Europe.
But for him, and for the Russian government which planned the seizure of Crimea, that is a price thoroughly worth paying.
And in the meantime, there will be no agreement on the basic question:  was it a coup d'etat or a justifiable, democratic decision by the people here?


Milkybars are about to get milkier, as the recipe changes for the first time in 81 years.

Milk will replace sugar as the treat's main ingredient, as the white stuff content is boosted from 26%  to 37.5%.
Nestle said the new recipe bars - with sugar cut by 0.7g - will be in stores by the end of the month.
It follows a similar move with its KitKat recipe, which increased the milk and cocoa content.
The Milkybar recipe has been the same since the bar first came into production in 1936, but is being changed as part of Public Health England's drive to reduce the amount of sugar consumed in the UK by 20%.
In April Nestle reduced the amount of sugar in its fruit pastilles by 30%.
A spokesman said the reductions in sugar would make "a positive step overall to removing sugar from the nation's diet while maintaining the taste"


Hungarians are commemorating the anniversary of their 1956 revolution against Soviet rule but many senior figures in the ruling Fidesz party believe Prime Minister Viktor Orban is steering the country back to its authoritarian past.

There are growing divisions in the right-wing party over Mr Orban's steps to turn Hungary into an "illiberal democracy", despite a third election victory this year:
Even though a majority of Hungarians oppose their policies - 2.8 million against to 2.3 million in favour in April -  opposition parties are weak and divided, with the exception of the radical nationalist Jobbik movement, which has emerged as the main rival to Fidesz.
But the mood in the corridors of power is wretched. In a country where backbench rebellions are almost unknown, politicians contend themselves with hints of dissent in anti-government media, and more open attacks on Viktor Orban's policies in pro-government media.
A new, pro-Russian foreign policy sits particularly awkwardly in a party which rose to fame in 1989 as the first to demand publicly that Soviet troops leave Hungary.
It began with a photograph of Viktor Orban shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in January, after signing a highly controversial nuclear expansion deal.
When the Russians annexed Crimea in March, the Budapest government criticised the beleaguered Ukrainian government in Kiev, and stated publicly that all it cared about was the Hungarian minority in western Ukraine.
In July, Hungary's embassy in Estonia was closed down at a moment when the Baltic states - Hungary's Nato allies - felt under most pressure from Moscow.
Mr Orban has consistently opposed EU and US sanctions against Russia, on the grounds that "we should be doves in economic policy, and hawks in defence".
In an August speech to Hungary's ambassadors, he called openly for an unprincipled foreign policy, placing foreign investment in Hungary above any moral considerations such as a trade partner's human rights record.
And in September, within an hour of Mr Orban meeting with the chief of Russia's state-owned gas giant, Gazprom, the reverse flow of gas to Ukraine in Hungary's pipelines, which had been annoying Russia, was stopped.
Dismay is growing within Fidesz at his domestic policy too: at government corruption, the playboy lifestyle of numerous party officials, and an economic policy which consistently suppresses the value of the Hungarian currency, the forint.
There is also increasing rivalry between the oligarchs: the rich men who fund the party from behind the scenes, on a model learnt from the former communists.
"Unprincipled decisions cause harm, even if that is not visible in the short term," parliament speaker Laszlo Kover, a founding member of Fidesz and close friend of Mr Orban said in August in the main pro-government weekly newspaper.
This was in reply to a question on the rise of communist-era secret service loyalists and businessmen with offshore accounts in government ranks.
The editor of the same weekly, Gabor Borokai, himself a former Fidesz government spokesman, lambasted what he called a "self-assured and arrogant social group" of young Fidesz leaders who believed they were beyond the law. This was apparently a reference to 36-year-old Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and his friends.
Another intra-Fidesz dispute has broken out over the extensive power of Janos Lazar, 39, the minister in charge of Mr Orban's office, who is responsible for the daily running of the government.
Other Fidesz officials, led by the head of the parliamentary group, increasingly regard Mr Lazar as a reckless and dangerous figure.
"From Hungary to Egypt, endless regulations and overt intimidation increasingly target civil society," US President Barack Obama said in September. This followed a government investigation into non-governmental organisations partially-funded by Norway, over alleged financial mismanagement.
The latest insult to split Fidesz came last week when the US government banned six unnamed Hungarian public officials from visiting the United States.
While the most hysterical pro-government commentators called for revenge, investigative reporters suggested that the head of the Hungarian tax authority was on the list for trying to bribe US businessmen.
That was followed this week by anger at a new government plan to tax internet use.
"Orban's illiberal democracy is the expression of a power structure where all powerâ€¦ resides at the centre," says Peter Rona, an Oxford-based economist and former member of the supervisory board of the Hungarian National Bank.
Unlike almost all other commentators, however, he can see an end to Fidesz's rule.
Hungarian governments are traditionally brought down by the misguided policies of their central bankers.
And Mr Rona thinks Fidesz could fall too because the determination of national bank head Gyorgy Matolcsy, a former Orban minister, to keep the forint weak at all costs.


Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he was surprised Wales boss Chris Coleman did not contact him before calling up teenager Ben Woodburn.

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The 17-year-old was named in the senior squad for the World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.
But his club boss has been left perplexed he was not consulted and believes the call-up has come too early.
"Actually, I was surprised about this," said Klopp.
Nottingham-born Woodburn, who qualifies to play for Wales through his maternal grandfather, has played for Wales at under-16, under-18 and under-19 level.
But Klopp believes he should have been in the loop when Coleman decided to move him up to the seniors.
Klopp added: "I don't know exactly how normal it is here.
"This should not be a criticism, but usually when you call up a player, a 17-year-old player, I thought it would be possible to call me.
"I'm not sure if he knows him well. He didn't play in the team so far for Coleman I think."
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Despite the fact he does not believe now is the right time for Wales to call on Woodburn, Klopp expects the youngster to deal with the situation.
"Obviously Ben is happy about it, so I am happy about it so that is the first thing," Klopp said.
"Do I think [Woodburn's selection for Wales] should it be now? I would say probably not. But is it a problem? No.
"Ben is a wonderful kid and he can deal with it 100%. He understands it all and knows really what he still has to learn and I can understand."
Woodburn has played seven games for Liverpool this season and became their youngest scorer when he netted against Leeds in the EFL Cup in November.
Wales had been urged to go to 'war' with England to claim Woodburn, but Coleman says the decision to select the youngster was his alone and Liverpool did not intervene.
"I make my own mind up about a player," Coleman said after announcing his squad on Thursday.
"I understand when you pick young players then clubs go, 'Oh, calm down,' but I make my own mind up.
"No matter how old he is, if he is good enough and I think he has something to offer us and can help us in this challenge then I am going to pick him.
"That's no disrespect to Jurgen or anybody else who say maybe he's not [ready], but that's their opinion."
Wales are third in their 2018 World Cup qualifying group and face a crucial tie against the Republic on 24 March and Coleman insists Woodburn "belongs" in his squad.
"He belongs to them [Liverpool], but I've got a job to do for Wales and I have to pick my strongest squad," Coleman said.
"At the minute, from what I have seen, he belongs in our strongest 23. That's why he is there."
Meanwhile, Klopp says he is happy to share Woodburn's development as a player with Coleman.
"I heard the manager said he's one of the best 23 players in Wales so he needs to be there, so that is his decision - all good," the Liverpool boss said.
"But now we are two managers who have to make sure that he develops in the right way, because usually it was more my responsibility and now we can share it a little bit so that is good."