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 [...]

Sir John Bond, chairman at Vodafone, has come under pressure in the run-up to the group’s AGM Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian Vodafone chairman Sir John Bond survived an attack from rebel shareholders at the company’s annual meeting today. More than 6.5% of investors who voted opposed Bond’s re-election as chairman following demands for [...]

Bricklayers working in Hatfield. The construction industry took a big hit from the recession and expects the outlook to get tougher. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian It was a bright, sunny day when 19 senior executives, each representing one of the government’s biggest suppliers, trooped into Admiralty House off Whitehall to meet the Cabinet [...]

Estimates suggest there will be 50m new mouths to feed every year. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian Hedge funds, with billions of pounds in assets, are recklessly gambling on food prices, with speculators driving massive price volatility that threatens the most vulnerable people on the planet. That’s the view of the World Development Movement [...]