Further evidence of a "jobless recovery" arrived with results from the recruitment agency Harvey Nash, which said yesterday that employers were yet to start hiring.

The Government is heading for borrowing more of than £200bn this year, on the basis of the latest figures on the Treasury's finances, which have been branded "dismal" by economists.

Rising oil prices could dampen the steadily strengthening demand for crude amid the fragile beginnings of economic recovery, the cartel of the world's biggest oil-producing countries warned yesterday.

BHP Billiton’s chief executive sounded a cautionary note at the group’s annual general meeting yesterday, saying that it will be the middle of next year before the world’s biggest mining group would know if demand for commodities had stabilised. Marius Kloppers said Chinese demand had largely accounted for the growth in commodity prices in the last six months, but while Chinese stockpiling was largely complete, he said, growth in 2010 depended on demand from OECD countries.

The proportion of babies born by Caesarean section in England remains double that recommended by the World Health Organisation, and the latest figures show no decline. Yet the annual round of breast-beating about the unacceptably high rate of Caesareans is irksome.

The Government has strongly criticised the controversial FTSE100-listed mining group Vedanta Resources, saying that it had failed to do enough to consult with indigenous people over a proposed bauxite mine in India

Unemployment remains on track to hit 3 million next year, or about one in ten of the workforce, trends in official data suggest, fuelling fears of a "jobs-lite" recovery.