Anglo Irish Banklost more than €8bn in the first six months of the year. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA Ireland’s finance minister, Brian Lenihan, was in Brussels tonight in an effort to clinch a deal over the toxic Anglo Irish Bank while trying to calm financial markets’ fears that the government bailout could bankrupt the country. After [...]

The Anglo Irish Bank is said by many to be undermining Ireland’s economy. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA They have become known as zombie hotels, a potent symbol of the profligacy of the past decade that has plunged the Irish economy deep into crisis. Across the Republic there are currently an estimated 300 hotels built in the [...]

Brothers in arms (above, l-r): Ed and David Miliband. Photograph: Stephen Hird/ REUTERS On the trail of Miliband, D and Miliband, E over the last month I find myself easily as interested in the idea of fraternity as in the “urgent business” of the renewal of the Labour party. The brotherly campaign for the Labour [...]

Spending power in the US will have gone up because average hourly earnings are higher. Photograph: Mike Theiler/REUTERS Fears that the world’s largest economy is spiralling back into recession eased today as it emerged that the US shed half as many jobs as feared in August. Here is what the economists made of the non-farm [...]

Caroline Mason, chief operating officer of Charity Bank, and co-founder of Investing for Good. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian Superheroes sparked Caroline Mason’s conversion from career banker to champion of social investment. As the chief operating officer of Charity Bank, she now spends her time convincing people to put their money to good use, [...]