Figures reveal nearly a million people have been out of work for more than a year

Ed Balls drew inspiration from children’s television to heap ridicule on the “failing Chancellor” George Osborne over his plans for spending cuts.

Ed Miliband tells Andrew Grice he regrets that David is New York-bound, and does not rule out a comeback

It used to be said that the best Chancellors are like snake oil salesman. Alas for this one, he's not too good at selling things. But will it cost him or his party?

It may be that most of the Tory backbenchers who are really perturbed by George Osborne’s dogged pursuit of Plan A simply failed to turn up for his ritual session in the noisy parliamentary equivalent of the stocks to which Ed Balls subjected him today. But they left the field clear for awe-inspiringly repetitive variations on a theme, that Labour was still exclusively to blame for the trouble we’re in. Including the “humiliation” as Balls put it, of losing a Triple A credit rating the “downgraded” Chancellor had once so prized.

The City refused to panic over the loss of the UK’s AAA rating today as shares headed higher and sterling avoided a major sell-off.

Advertising giant WPP gave Chancellor George Osborne a boost today by confirming plans to move its headquarters back to the UK.

In their liability to tax, it seems, the rich are still different from the rest of us

The campaign to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom has officially got under way with a warning from former chancellor Alistair Darling that voting to end the Union will be “irrevocable”.

Being a special adviser at the heart of the Government is necessarily a privileged but hugely sensitive role. When Alistair Darling, then the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, asked me to be his special adviser in the Treasury in 2007 I had little idea of what was expected. There was no job description. It was a case of feeling my way, finding a modus operandi best suited to looking after his interests.

The Olympic flame is on its way. Visitors and loaded, devoted Royalists, sports fans and politicos are so excited. I come to spoil the party. It feels impolitic, uncivil ... callous too. Buried evidence of destitution and hopelessness crawls out from official assurances (and excuses) and spin. Phone calls to Mind, the mental-health charity are up by 100 per cent. Research by the Church Urban Fund finds that in parts of Manchester and Liverpool, average life expectancy is 70 and 65 per cent of children live in poverty, while in parts of Surrey and Berkshire, life expectancy is 85 and 1 per cent of children live in poor households. As shocking as the statistics is the indifference of all of us who can, in hard times, still have very good times.

Economic Outlook: Misleadingly, Danny Alexander suggests the government has created 634,000 jobs

1. Oprah Winfrey.