The scheme was launched over the summer to offer lenders funding at low interest rates on condition it is passed on to households and businesses

The Bank of England's forecasts for a sharp fall in inflation this year were dealt a serious blow yesterday as official figures showed it actually rose in March for the first time in six months.

Food, clothes and fuel push up the cost of living as prices rise 3.5 per cent

The construction sector returned to growth in February but failed to offset fears over the pace of the economic recovery in the first three months of the year.

The construction sector returned to growth in February but failed to offset fears over the pace of the economic recovery in the first three months of the year.

A surprise jump in factory output today boosted hopes of a trading revival within Britain's under-pressure manufacturing sector.

Inflation expectations have risen to a three-year high, according to the latest quarterly survey from the Bank of England. The median public inflation expectation for the next 12 months rose to 4.2 per cent, compared with 3.9 per cent in the previous poll in May.

A new British horror movie casts Ray and Jaime Winstone together in a film for the first time. On set in Wales, they reveal the secrets of the family profession to Charlotte Cripps

The manufacturing sector expanded at a record pace last month, offering some hope for the otherwise sluggish economy, but rising factory costs highlighted the threat posed by growing inflationary pressures, according to a new survey published yesterday.

Bank of England Governor's dire warning on state of the economy

A new film revisits the short life and harsh vision of Andrea Dunbar. Its director, Clio Barnard, explains why the teenage playwright is more relevant than ever

It's all part of his plan to invigorate 'appalling' British television, he tells Gerard Gilbert

The ghost of Alan Clarke's Scum makes its presence felt in this lowering tale of a youth correctional facility in the American Midwest.

Can you judge a book by its epigraph? That you do is surely true, since at the point when you turn that particular page of a new novel it's pretty much all you've got to go on. Yes – the book's cover will have started work on you already, but you know that to be the creation of the marketing department. It's inadmissible as evidence of literary intent. But now, here, you are for the first time in the presence of the author and you are entitled to weigh up what you've been given. That you are expected to judge a book by its epigraph is also true, since it would hardly be there otherwise. You know perfectly well that it has designs on your judgement. It would be impolite to brush past without a nod in its direction, even if you suspect that it stands at the door like a spin-doctor, trying to tilt the verdict in the right direction.