Outlook Remember the vuvuzela? The sound of thousands of those one-note plastic trumpets being blown together became a feature of the last football World Cup and drove millions of English fans to distraction.

The Government hopes that by improving, credit unions can provide basic financial services to millions of vulnerable people. officials are proposing to bankroll a small number of credit unions to help them do away with the irresponsible high-cost credit providers or loan sharks that can force folk into a debt spiral.

More than a million people will have seen their monthly mortgage costs increase, following recent moves by Halifax, Clydesdale/Yorkshire banks and Bank of Ireland to hike their mortgage standard variable rates.

It is more than three years since the Monetary Policy Committee slashed base rate to 0.50 per cent to try and get the UK economy moving again, but it appears we have made little headway in that time and now find ourselves back in recession.

The index of London's leading shares responded cautiously today after unexpectedly high demand for the closely-watched sale of Spanish debt.

Lunch on Thursday with the economist and Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Adam Posen in the Westminster offices of the think-tank Reform.

Lloyd's of London stumbled to a major loss of £516m in a year of what the insurance market called "unprecedented catastrophe", but bonuses for senior executives still rose. The losses are topped only by those made in 2001, when the 9/11 terror attacks put Lloyd's in the red to the tune of £3.1bn.

Will George Osborne's Youth Investment Fund encourage a new generation of young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses? It just might, say those who work with young business leaders – but not if money is the only thing on offer.

The deal

The ISA savings system should be revitalised to help shelter beleaguered savers and struggling first-time buyers from taxation, campaigners have said.

Britain's economic recovery has been weak because of the destructive legacy of overseas investments made by our largest banks, according to a senior Bank of England policymaker.

George Osborne is thinking of issuing 100-year bonds to get hold of cheap money for the Exchequer. He plans to take advantage of two things – the fact that interest rates are at a historic low and the fact that investors see Britain just now as a haven from euro turmoil. Some of our banks may be bust, our unemployment soaring and our public services slashed, but it is all much worse elsewhere. So investors would be well-advised to buy British, when it comes to gilts and government bonds, at any rate.