Time finally to make banks safe

The too-big-to-fail problem has not been rooted out. Keeping crucial operations going while allocating losses has not yet been made workable in practice

• RBS raises hopes of privatisation
• Big banks strike back at call for break-up

A failure of UK budget surveillance

Britain’s MoD has long been criticised for signing up to major procurement projects that are wasteful. But few can compare with the saga of the Nimrod aircraft – the MRA4

• On-form Cable quashes talk of quitting
• Parties vie to recruit community organisers

Time to end the Arab exception

Mubarak regime is at the centre of a network of regional strongmen the west has backed to secure stability in a neuralgic region, oil supplies and the safety of Israel

Ear to the ground

Beyond the economic roadmaps look at the economic terrain, where many signals suggest the economy is far from stalling: net exports finally seem set to lift demand; production is expanding

BBC World Service

Britain has long since ceased to rule the waves. This makes its presence on the airwaves – and their digital descendants – all the more important

Sick in fortune

King Lear teaches us not to hope for a sweet ending now but the unfolding tale of Stanley Ho’s disappearing kingdom looks set to go on for far longer than that

More U-turns in the hacking affair

Whatever the outcome of the latest investigation, the scandal may cost News Corp a lot of money. Already, perhaps 12 celebrities have bought claims against the company

Banks presented with sticker shock

Good resolution regimes would let capital markets price risks for each bank individually, which is better for the economy than identical draconian quotas for all

The dark shadows of Kosovo’s past

The unfinished state of the union

After Tunisia – the Egyptian challenge

Saving the cajas

UK’s frozen GDP

Talking to Tehran

Paying bankers to be prudent

Middle East peace hits a dead end

Thinking ahead

How to thwart cyberwarriors