Metro Bank in Holborn, central London will open to the public today Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters Yorkshire terrier Duffy is yapping away, the silver pillars are being polished and plastic sheeting being torn off surfaces. After two years of preparation, it is a few hours before the opening of Metro Bank, the first new bank to [...]

US economists Mark Zandi and Alan Blinder say in a new study that US bailout measures averted a worse financial crisis. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters To Washington conservatives they were egregious examples of “big government” overreach, but the White House’s economic stimulus and bailout policies have saved 8.5m jobs and averted a further slump of 6.5% [...]

Asbo statistics announced. Photograph: David Fisher Remember when Asbos – anti-social behaviour orders – were all the rage? Not any more it seems. Their numbers have been on the decline in recent years and now it appears that the Liberal-Conservative coalition government wants to get rid of them. Alan Travis writes today that the home [...]

Michael Gove said a ‘yawning gap’ had formed between the attainment of poor children and their richer peers. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA Inequality in Britain is so entrenched that “rich, thick kids” achieve more than their “poor, clever” peers even before they start school, the education secretary said today. Michael Gove told MPs on the cross-party [...]