The launch of the Big Society Bank is set to be pushed back from next month until next year as a result of delays caused by European regulators and ongoing talks with British high-street banks.

1. Has the Bank either recently commissioned designs for, or sought approvals for, new high denomination banknotes of greater value than £50? (e.g. £100, £500 or £1,000 notes) 2. What is the anticipated lead time in bringing a new bank note to press? 3. Does the Bank have in place contingency plans in the event of having to print very large numbers of new high denomination ...

So, the Tories have declared war on Charlie Whelan and Unite - what Eric Pickles calls the "great untold story of British politics". He was joined by no less than two more shadow frontbenchers - Michael Gove and Theresa Villiers - at a briefing attacking the union's political influence this morning. And that's not all: the Tories have produced a document detailing how Unite is ...

Rumour has that she wants her name to be placed in nomination, leading to a roll-call vote at the Democratic Party Convention. Divisive? Not at all. By all means let there be a good, honest, open defeat for the idea that merely having been a high society hostess qualifies one to be President of the United States, for racist rabble-rousing, and for AIPAC-endorsed and "feminist" (high society hostes...

The Tories will outline a plan to combat what they call Britain's "walk-on-by society" today.

The Tories Unite strategy has been so effective, even Peter Mandelson is peddling it. Led by Mandelson, Labour’s isolated right has questioned Unite’s influence over candidate selection. James Purnell’s preferred successor, Jonny Reynolds, was omitted from the Stalybridge and Hyde shortlist, compiled by the NEC, which has two Unite members on its board. Mandelson and Purnell have...

Unite, the UK largest union, is calling on all employers to work together with Unite to challenge the unacceptably high levels of bullying in the not-for-profit sector. Recent research in the sector revealed that 43 per cent of Unite members had experienced bullying in the last two years. This is well above the national average of one in ten . Unite believes that there are cultural reasons for the...

At the end of a long week, Gordon Brown has apologised after high profile blogger Derek Draper and special advisor Damian McBride discussed plans to smear Tories online with a website modelled on the right wing Guido Fawkes. (We need to be careful not to call Paul Staines, who authors Guido Fawkes, a Tory as

Paul Blomfield, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Sheffield Central, has today angrily attacked new plans for high speed rail published by the Conservatives which fail to include Sheffield. The Tories plan to develop high-speed rail links between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, but to by-pass Sheffield. Paul Blomfield said: "High speed rail is going to be vitally important to th...

...Bernard-Henri Lévy — universally known in France as BHL — who cuts a commanding figure both in the circles of the Left Bank intelligentsia and in the world of Parisian high fashion and salon society...Copyleft of Lenin's Tomb