London New Media

TNT has started trials of a postal service in Chiswick, west London. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian Postal workers could refuse to deliver post sent via anyone other than Royal Mail as part of a campaign to highlight a threat to the UK's universal service, union leaders have warned.The Communication Workers Union (CWU) raised the threat of a boycott because of "unfair" competition, which it said had led to job losses, price rises and fewer...

A separate study of high street spending showed retailers are banking on a late rush to the shops by consumers this Christmas. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images The body that represents the UK's army of small businesses has demanded a "laser-like" focus on growth from George Osborne, as it cut its forecasts for the UK in the next two years.Warning that a worsening international backdrop and the need for fresh austerity measures would hinder expansion, the British...

The government says an extra 26 gigawatts of gas will have to be produced by 2030, Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images Up to 30 gas-fired power stations will have to be built across the country, ensuring that more gas will be produced in Britain by 2030 to guarantee energy supplies, the government will announce this week.Tax incentives and a new body to encourage the development of controversial shale gas will be unveiled as part of a new gas strategy which will be...

Sir James Crosby presided over a complacent HBOS. Photograph: Pa Photo/PA If Fred Goodwin deserved to be stripped of his knighthood, so does Sir James Crosby. Monday's session of the commission on banking standards established that HBOS's fatal weaknesses in funding and lending were created and encouraged during Crosby's time as chief executive.Nobody seriously believed otherwise, of course, but it was still useful to hear Crosby – through gritted teeth at times –...

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A Christmas picker on Cyber Monday at Argos’s largest warehouse, in Burton-on-Trent. Photograph: Andrew Fox From their control tower, surrounded by 16 screens monitoring every part of the 2.2m sq ft of warehouse space below, staff at John Lewis's £58m distribution hub in Milton Keynes on Monday were braced for what they hoped would be the busiest online shopping day of the year.So-called Cyber Monday had already had a sprinting start with 6,000 orders arriving...

Sir Terry Leahy will take on the chairmanship of B&M. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy is to chair northern discount retailer B&M Bargains, which has been sold to US private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice.The three Arora brothers, who bought B&M in 2005 from UBS Capital which acquired it in 1999, stand to make millions from the sale which is thought to have valued the business at about £965m. They will...

The Papandreou clan in a 1984 family snapshot. Police claim Margaret Papandreou, seated next to then prime minister Andreas, is behind the largest account on the ‘Lagarde list’ of 2,000 Greeks hiding millions. George Papandreou, far right, was prime minister from 2009 to 2011. Photograph: Susan Muhlhauser/Getty Images Greece's civil war over naming and shaming suspected tax evaders intensified following the claim by police that former prime minister George...

New governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney. Photograph: Georgios Kefalas/EPA George Osborne's reform of the financial system risks putting too much power in the hands of the newly appointed Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, a former Bank policymaker has warned.As Osborne attempts to salvage his reputation with a tough autumn statement, Adam Posen said the expansion of the Bank of England's empire to include City regulation, coupled with the fawning response...

The proposal was put forth by John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Eric cantor and other prominent Republicans. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP Republican leaders have made their first counter bid in the ongoing poker game with the White House over the fiscal cliff, proposing new tax revenues and cuts in health and social security spending but continuing to resist any discussion of raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.The counter-proposal comes in the form of a letter to...