Northern Rock will be one of the targets for the Square Mile when the government starts to offload bank assets nationalised during the financial crisis. Photograph: Christopher Thomond A takeover battle is looming for control of banks such as Northern Rock, which was bailed out by the taxpayer... 

youtube If there’s an unquestionable moral lesson for our era, it’s this: Don’t film yourself committing crimes and post them on YouTube. Los Angeles resident Cyrus Yazdani did just that, and yesterday, he learned that he will have more than three years to think about how colossally stupid that was. According... 

Feargal Sharkey … could be about to shake up the music debate in the Lords. Photograph: Brian Rasic / Rex Features Last week I had tea with Lord Lucas in the House of Lords (I know – whodathought?). He wanted to have a chat about what the Lords could do to help artists and music creators.... 

Condoleezza Rice plays piano and Aretha Franklin sings at the Mann Centre in Philadelphia last night as they raised money for urban children. Photograph: Bill Mccay/Bill McCay/WireImage.com It was an unlikely pairing. Stage left, Condoleezza Rice, the former Republican darling, a classically... 

The Oresund bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo. Photograph: HENRIK MONTGOMERY/EPA Spanning the World (World Service, Friday) looks at the psychological, political and cultural meanings of bridges. The last episode looked at the Oresund Bridge-Tunnel connecting Denmark and Sweden. “A...