Big clubs vied to sign John Megicks when he was six. At eight, he was on TV. He's in the Ryman Premier now. Sam Wallace reports

Four million newspaper pages have been put online as part of a massive history project.

More than three-quarters of British-grown oysters contain norovirus, new research has found.

Twenty years ago, Romania's orphanages caused outrage around the world. What's happened since is a remarkable success story

Assistant to Villas-Boas shrugs off claims he is about to leave and restates commitment to Chelsea

David Cameron thinks that parents whose children are off school because his government has provoked the largest strike in decades should be permitted by their employers to take them to work (report, 23 November).

Stark warning from OECD deals blow to Osborne on the eve of his crucial speech

Judging by the comments of some in the Square Mile, a tie-up between Xstrata and Glencore appears to be virtually inevitable. Yet not everyone is convinced a merger is imminent, including Nomura which yesterday claimed Xstrata was more likely to be on the lookout for acquisitions itself than be taken over.

The City grandee David Mayhew is expected to announce he is stepping back from day-to-day management of JPMorgan Cazenove today, relinquishing his role as chairman at the blue-blooded City broker.

Victims' evidence

The businesswear retailer TM Lewin reported a slowdown in UK trading yesterday but revealed ambitious plans to double sales by focusing on overseas expansion.

Gaël Clichy is adapting well to the Etihad – unlike Samir Nasri and the club's other former Arsenal men, writes Ian Herbert

The Mayor of London is in no mood for compromise. Other politicians might have trodden carefully at this time of social unrest, but Boris Johnson was more than happy to turn up to a charitable event run by the City, where top-of-the-range Aston Martins were parked outside to make a statement about the wealth of participants. "Baffling protests against capitalism that have led to not a single resignation of a banker, but of three clerics," Johnson told the audience. "When it comes to protests, I cycle past them very quickly."

The big fences at Aintree on Saturday will renew focus on the hazards of jumping, but the fact remains that even the most innocuous enterprise can imperil horse and rider alike. Yesterday one of the world's most accomplished Flat performers, Snow Fairy, suffered an injury during a routine canter in Hong Kong and will now be flown home to Newmarket with a question mark over her future. But even anxiety over the flagship of his stable will not deceive Ed Dunlop that his was the worst lot of the day.