MORE on the blame game for the mess we're in. Bankers get the rap and credit-rating agencies, institutional shareholders, analysts, lawyers, accountants, PRs, media, regulators and government go free. Reader Michael Davies from Oxfordshire writes: "It is also apparent that there is one other group that has contributed substantially to the problem of bankers' pay which has escaped attention. This is the group of remuneration consultants who have advised the various boards on senior executive pay. Their habit of collecting data on industry pay levels and then suggesting similar percentage levels for their clients has not only created a upward spiral in pay levels, as everybody measures everbody else, but has ignored the need for a reality check as to what absolute amount is really needed to provide incentives in the business line concerned."... more
It was the year the economic bubble finally burst, but can you remember the financial events that made the headlines in 2008? Nick Curtis asks the questions... more
After a romantic safari in Botswana with Prince Harry, his girlfriend Chelsy Davy returned to the urban jungle with a bout of serious shopping. ... more
It was Kate Middleton's very own Marilyn Monroe moment. But unlike the Hollywood sex symbol, Prince William's girlfriend ensured that her modesty was preserved.... more
Princess Eugenie has been reprimanded by her public school after she was involved in 'high jinks' towards the end of her school term. The princess 'danced around without any clothes'.... more
Dressed in a stunning pink satin dress, daringly slashed to the navel, Kate Middleton faced tough competition in the fashion stakes from the other Princess-in-waiting Chelsy Davy on a night out at the boxing.... more
The Queen has run into flak for appearing in Hello! magazine's photo album of the wedding of Peter Phillips and his Canadian girlfriend. An MP said the public expected her to rise above such tackiness. "She is the Queen, not a footballer's wife." A Palace spokesman has conceded it should never have happened and promised "it will never ever happen again"... more
That tornado of egomania Didier Drogba, the oddly impressive Harry Redknapp, the Mallorcan bull Rafael Nadal, and the cursed Paula Radcliffe - Matthew Norman examines them all... more
Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy's joy at being reunited after his tour of duty in Afghanistan has been soured, I can reveal, by a pointed snub by other members of the Royal Family
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While the spotlight is on Prince Harry returning from Afghanistan, brother William is busy planning a skiing trip with girlfriend Kate Middleton. Recent reports have suggested they are going through another rocky patch in their four-year relationship, but I can report the couple are happily heading off together to the Swiss resort of Klosters next month
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Tonight:
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