The Guardian: Main section

Labour has abandoned sections of white working class and taken their votes for granted, says minister

Sources say most of the people who make pills for artist's drug cabinet series will not have contracts renewed

Asad 'Booyah' Abdulahi explains how he captures ships in Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean

BBC Trust report reveals email trail preceding Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross broadcast

Lack of editorial judgment and breakdown in communication over offensive messages left on Sachs' answering machine blamed for Radio 2 debacle

Chairman of BBC Trust concludes it would be better to concentrate on improving quality of existing services

Georgina Baillie pronounces herself 'happy' with BBC Trust findings, but seems anything but on stage

Boris Johnson launched a review into granting an 'earned amnesty' to illegal immigrants living in London

Unison says workers objected to changes in working patterns and cuts in overtime

Home Office says failures to keep entries on register up to date could be enforced by bailiffs seizing property

Regulated fares including season tickets and saver tickets, will rise by an average of 6%

Borrowing projections emerge showing public finances in a worse state than previous estimates had shown

Not since Roosevelt in 1933 has an incoming US president faced a tougher economic challenge than this one

Shares fall to $3, but US banking giant continues to deny any liquidity problems

US car firm belatedly promises to give up two of five leased executive jets and says more cuts are on the way

Citigroup, once the world's largest bank, could be nationalised in part or whole by the US government

Woolworths in last-ditch talks to avoid bankruptcy as fashion chain MK One goes into administration

Government accused of failing to protect struggling homeowners from aggressive lenders and forced repossessions

Rumours circulate as HBOS is slammed for 'Roman feast' and RBS is accused of squandering on champagne

State schools outperforming independent sector on several education and child protection measures, inspections reveal

Confiscation order for career criminal involved in 12-strong 'carousel' fraud and money laundering operation

The couple have agreed to shared contact with their sons, Rocco, eight, and David, three

British sailor Jayesh Patel survived three nights in storm-tossed sea after his boat sank near Mallorca

Sports broadcaster Jeff Stelling is to be the new Countdown host when the show begins a fresh series in January

Ben Goldacre: I have a cold, and I know that there is almost nothing I can do, except sit it out

Supermarket chain Morrisons cuts cost of unleaded petrol, swiftly followed by Total, Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco

Halifax says residents of Elmbridge enjoy high earnings, more sunshine and have a longer life expectancy

Freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions expected, with snowfall across much of Britain on Sunday

Leicester University is offering a course taught by former Nasa astronaut Jeff Hoffman

Tate Britain's exhibition will include 10 rarely seen Van Dyck works from Royal Collection

More stories from across the UK

Neurologist tells court in south-east London of his love for England, his family life and his top-flight education

Actor reaches settlement with an agency of paparazzi photographers over claims of invasion of privacy

Chemicals found in hairspray may increase the risk of a common genetic deformity in baby boys

Tide may be turning in Yorkshire town of Morley which has more BNP members than any other constituency

Anti-cult activists fear London festival could mark a British renaissance for the Unification Church

Businesswoman and front seat passenger convicted on two counts of causing death by dangerous driving

Tories end year-old commitment to match Labour's spending plans in 2010-11

Treasury officials believe annual public sector borrowing could head towards £120bn

Disgraced British peer who defrauded millions from media empire issues plea to departing president

Agreement paves way for more movies starring former secret service operative, according to Variety

John Sergeant's story gripped people, possibly because it made a change from the relentlessly grim economic news

Rising food prices set off a second 'scramble for Africa' as Korean firm buys 99-year land lease in Madagascar

The Philippines gives Chinese companies access to 1.24m hectares of land to grow crops

Between 2m and 3m hectares of land - as much as 15% of Laos territory - has been signed away

South Korea is poised to become Madagascar's biggest farm tenant with 99-year lease

Brazil is one of the most attractive options for countries seeking agricultural acreage overseas

Female Afghan MPs speak out as conditions worsen and Islamists gain respectability

Unilever closes French factory and cuts 300 jobs as production drops by 42%

Plan will make city the first region of California to switch its transport systems away from traditional fuels

The Fontainebleau hotel in Miami promises to restore chic to Florida's playground of the stars

Arts officials say hoardings are only way to fund restoration after Silvio Berlusconi's cuts

Performances cancelled and gala under threat as opera house hit by internal pay row

Tensions rise among supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr over 2011 exit date for US troops

Faced with a baby boom, Vietnam is planning a crackdown to stop couples having more than two children

4.5bn tonnes of soil lost each year due to farming, forestry and overpopulation, survey finds

Developers say they are scrapping plans to build Europe's tallest skyscraper in Moscow

Florida teenager appears to have killed himself after being goaded by other web surfers

Concern grows that companies will be forced to avoid the area altogether - at huge cost to global trade

Panayiotis Tzanetakos, captain of Greek vessel, on the ordeal modern-day piracy has created for crews

Scientists use hair strands to identify the skeleton of Nicolaus Copernicus, founder of modern astronomy

Polls suggest a resurgent opposition could win control of key states and cities and rein in the forceful president

Jon Henley: Ex-squaddies, accountants, engineers - the leaked BNP membership list is a snapshot of far-right Britain, and a chance to find out whether its supporters live on your street ...

'The moment I heard about the leaked BNP list I was intrigued to know who was on it'

The lovable rogue beloved of literature and Hollywood was more often than not a thieving thug

Interview: She is the northern, state-educated Tory poster girl who is fighting Heathrow's third runway. So why does a conversation with Justine Greening feel more like an exam?

Marina Hyde: They're still banging on about bonuses. Perhaps a public shaming would be the decent thing to do

Louise Chunn: New Zealand may mourn the end of the Clark era: she was a prime minister in a different mould

Hazel Blears: Shouting 'Nazi' won't work. We must campaign vigorously and address local political failures

Polly Toynbee: Tested by recession, the Tory leader has reverted to type - a laissez-faire Thatcherite, U-turning his party back to 1981

Andrew Martin: I stand independent and free, fighting for equity and battling limescale. Yes, I do the housework

Editorial: Hugo Chávez is casting Venuzuela's elections as a Manichean battle between capitalism and socialism

Editorial: Popularising big ideas is one of journalism's lesser-populated fields, and Gladwell shows that it can be immense fun

Editorial: Trust and Ofcom conclude that time is not yet ripe for launching a beefed-up local video service

Graham Long: New Forest

The comparison of the journalist John Sergeant to a 'dancing pig in Cuban heels' was not made by a judge

Letters: You report that about 1,000 deaths a year on UK roads relate to speeding (Report, November 21).

Letters: It is with great dismay that we learned of the British government's plans to rent space for its new Tel Aviv embassy location from Lev Leviev's company Africa-Israel

Letters: The Strictly Come Dancing affair (Quick, quick, slow - and stop, as Sergeant quits Strictly, November 20) throws up some interesting issues with regard to the evaluation of culture

Letters: Jenni Russell (We must dare to rethink the welfare that benefits no one, November 21) confuses a number of arguments

Letters: Your centre spread (Eyewitness 18.11.08: EU debate on global financial crisis, Strasbourg, November 20) seems a cheap shot

Stewart Dakers: Faith and science need a collective reformation to celebrate the power of love

World's largest retail group, names Mike Duke, as its new group chief executive

Self-styled king of beers toppled from global sales league by Chinese own brand, Snow

Flagship plant to shut down for two months as Japanese firm struggles to cope with sales slump

John Varley braces for gruelling shareholder meeting over controversial plan to raise funds from Middle East

Rumours of private equity interest as gap between deposits and loans hits €33,000 a head

Lukoil most probable buyer of shares held by troubled construction company and Spanish savings bank

FTSE 100 slumped to its third-worst week on record last night, amid further signs of frailty

Stephen Whittaker to be replaced on UK Growth fund, which has halved in value over past two years

Latest reports on international economic slowdown, including news from transport, publishing and service sectors

Credit ratings agency says falling house prices and the worsening economy are likely to hit profits

Wigmore Hall, London
The demands on both players and listeners are formidable. It was a measure of the Emersons' greatness that they were able to sustain the over-arching mood and momentum

Vicki Murray: My family have taken the Guardian since the earliest days of the Manchester Guardian

Lucy Mangan takes an irreverent look at the events of the past week