HSBC is one of the banks that must convince the commision led by Sir John Vickers that it is not a threat to the banking system over the next year. Photograph: Graeme Robertson Three years ago this week, the onset of the credit crunch proved that Britain’s banks were too big to be allowed... 

Lord Malloch Brown pictured in 2005 at a UN oil-for-food programme meeting in New York. Photograph: Jeff Zelevansky/REUTERS Just 12 months after resigning from the government, Lord Malloch-Brown, the former Foreign Office minister for Africa, has become an adviser to an oil firm that is expanding... 

Gordon Brown has found his voice. Photograph: Graeme Robertson Gordon Brown has signed up with a London agency to attend speaking events at 0,000 (£64,000) a time, it was reported. Brown has not spoken in the House of Commons since he stood down as Labour leader, despite remaining MP for Kirkcaldy... 

Ed Balls delivering a speech yesterday warning that the coalition government’s drastic measures to cut the deficit could return the UK to recession. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images Ed Balls today laid down a marker for a battle in the Labour party over the future handling of the economy... 

If extraterrestrials ever phoned us, they would be more likely to send narrowly directed bursts than  constantly blaring signals — more text-messaging than novel-writing, some scientists now suggest. Such a strategy also would be more practical for anyone on Earth to reach out to aliens —...