While David Cameron and other Conservatives are understandably outraged by the vandalism that accompanied Thursday's student protest, let us not run away with the idea that the anti-Tory left has a monopoly on hooliganism dressed up as political activity.

Campaigners accused the Government of "going soft" on banks as it unveiled details of its £2.5bn banking levy.

The number of 16 to 24-year-olds claiming unemployment benefit for more than 12 months has increased fourfold since before the recession. Young people claiming jobseeker's allowance jumped from 5,840 in 2008 to more than 25,800 this year, according to a report by the Prince's Trust and RBS.

A review of fair pay in the public sector today suggested top executives should not be paid more than 20 times the wages of other staff.

Thousands of London Underground workers will start a 24-hour strike tonight, threatening travel disruption for commuters and other passengers.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, wants backing from EU finance ministers before imposing new bank bonus rules, in what is being seen as a further attempt to downplay the Government's "tough on banks" stance in response to City pressure.

David Cameron's judgment was called into question last night after a new Conservative peer was forced to apologise over remarks that benefit cuts would encourage "breeding" among the poor.

New Conservative peer Howard Flight apologised for attacking Government welfare cuts which he suggested would encourage the poor to have more children.

The simmering tension over banking policy between the Chancellor, George Osborne, and Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, sparked back into life yesterday after Mr Cable issued a strongly worded statement in response to Mr Osborne's suggestion that some of Britain's proposed banking bonus reforms could be toned down.

More than one million women in Britain are now unemployed, the highest number since 1988.

The number of unemployed women has reached a 22-year high of more than a million prompting warnings tonight of worse to come.

Higher fuel prices, more expensive computer games and increasing bank charges pushed inflation higher in October, according to the Office for National Statistics.

John Cridland was yesterday named the £310,000-a-year voice of British business, when he was appointed to replace Richard Lambert as director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) from January.

Public sector workers may have to pay up to £4 billion more a year into their pension schemes following a consultation on the way their contributions are calculated, it emerged today.