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Labour leader Ed Miliband urges banking sell-off
8 July 2012 Last updated at 10:38 ET Ed Balls: "The government is dragging its feet" Labour has demanded that top High Street banks should be forced to sell off hundreds of branches in a "root-and-branch" reform of the industry. Shadow chancellor Ed Balls told the BBC that the government was "foot-dragging" on the issue.
19 July 2012 Last updated at 10:54 ET By Tim Donovan Political Editor, BBC London G4S were contracted to supply 10,400 security guards during the Games Olympic organisers instructed G4S to pay security guards less than the wages that officials had publicly declared were being offered, the firm says. Most security guards are being paid a basic wage of £8.50 an hour to work at the Games venues. It is below the rate of "approximately £10 an hour" which the government and Locog told MPs was being paid to attract recruits.
Pay Peanuts and you get Monkeys
UK recession deepens after 0.7% fall in GDP
25 July 2012 Last updated at 11:19 ET George Osborne: The government has to have "a relentless focus on the economy" The UK recession has deepened, latest official figures have shown, after the output of the economy fell by 0.7% between April and June. The contraction was much bigger than expected and follows a 0.3% drop in the first three months of the year. The Office for National Statistics said the fall was largely due to a sharp slowdown in the construction sector.
26 July 2012 Last updated at 11:56 ET Some farmers stayed away from the Royal Welsh Show to catch up on work they could not do when the weather was bad A record 240,964 people have visited the Royal Welsh Show in Powys after one of the hottest weeks of the year so far. The figure breaks the previous record of 240,140 set in 2006 at the four-day event in Llanelwedd. The show has been bathed in sunshine all week, with temperatures reaching 26C (79F) after weeks of heavy rain. But the heatwave has caused problems for medical teams with dozens of people suffering from heat-related problems.
Record 240,964 visit the Royal Welsh Show in heat
The feverish activity across global news rooms to ferret out the best of the leaks from the morass of military material about the Afghan war disclosed on Wikileaks is continuing apace. Undoubtedly, we are learning more of the scale , more of the mess that is military service in this war with its still indistinct concept of what “success” constitutes.
Wikileaks, war and calling the kettle black? | Snowblog
23 August 2012 Last updated at 18:13 GMT In people with cystic fibrosis, mucus is not properly cleared from the lungs Scientists say the discovery of an internal "brush" that helps clear lungs of unwanted matter could help them understand more about lung diseases.
'Brush' offers clues to fighting lung disease
Paying tradesmen cash in hand morally wrong, says minister
24 July 2012 Last updated at 13:11 ET Mr Gauke said cash payments were "facilitating" the hidden economy Treasury minister David Gauke has said it is "morally wrong" to pay tradesmen such as plumbers, builders and cleaners in cash in the hope of avoiding tax. He argued the practice came at "a big cost" to the Treasury and meant other people had to pay more.
'Benchmark' homeless and housing centre for Cardiff
19 July 2012 Last updated at 10:52 ET Artist's impression of the completed homeless and housing complex on Dumballs Road, Cardiff. Hostels have stood on the site for 20 years. A homeless and housing centre that will be a "benchmark" for other cities to follow is opening its doors.20 July 2012 Last updated at 11:02 ET Firefighters have been despatched from the Portuguese mainland to help Hundreds of Portuguese firefighters are battling forest fires raging in areas popular with tourists - the Algarve and the island of Madeira. Fires in Camacha and Santa Cruz on Madeira are threatening homes, but there are no reports of casualties. Dozens of people have abandoned their homes since fires began spreading in parts of Madeira on Wednesday. The Tavira district is worst affected in the Algarve.
Portugal's Madeira hit by forest fires
23 July 2012 Last updated at 02:39 GMT By Dougal Shaw Technology reporter Professor Nick Jennings explains why and how he is testing disaster drones An ominous plume of black smoke hangs over east London. The scarcely believable news arrives in snippets: A huge blast has rocked the Thames Barrier; a surge of water is ploughing through the city; a sports stadium has collapsed; more explosions are reported on Twitter.
Disaster drones: How robot teams can help in a crisis
24 July 2012 Last updated at 12:45 ET Alison Levitt QC: "This statement is made in the interests of transparency and accountability." Eight people, including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, will face a total of 19 charges relating to phone hacking, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.