Council gives residents £50 to help pay bills

The move will try to ease rising houshold bills and comes as a number of town halls try to freeze or cut council tax rises

NHS patients still in mixed wards

The Tories say patients are being treated on mixed-sex wards with little segregation, despite promises to improve privacy

Chelsea council £50 payout for all residents

Taxpayers in Kensington and Chelsea will be given handouts in April to help them combat the economic downturn

Brown goes on tour to see nation's suffering

Prime Minister begins nationwide tour in Derby as Viyella, the clothing manufacturer, becomes the downturn's latest victim

Carmakers seek banks' cash amid bailout fears

With the Treasury's proposed rescue programme now in doubt, car companies are going directly to the banks for help

Baby given life because of the shelling

The humanity and inhumanity of the war in Gaza is revealed as Palestinian baby and mother are saved by Israeli doctors

Blair to finally collect Congressional Medal

Former Prime Minister will now collect the medal awarded to him in 2003 in recognition of his 'stand against evil'

Forget initiatives, what matters is lack of credit

The rescue package of mid-October stabilised the position, but it's time to address the cause of the deepening recession

Top Tory's skiing trip embarrasses Cameron

Conservative business spokesman heads for the slopes rather than join Shadow Cabinet colleagues in visits across Britain

UK car sales drop amid bailout doubt

Concern mounts over delayed Government aid package for auto industry as component makers also look set to hit trouble

Duke gets £280,000 for bridge over his river

The Duke of Beaufort is paid more than £280,000 of taxpayers' money for allowing a footbridge to be built across a Welsh river

One return, once a week

It took several calls and e-mails to the Department for Transport to establish the facts about the "ghost bus" of Ealing

Mobile phones finally passed fit for hospitals

After years of dogged obedience by patients and visitors ministers say the ban is based on mythical safety concerns

Bailiffs and bankruptcy are common currency

Falling behind with council tax payments is tipping people towards bankruptcy as councils adopt tough approach to debts

Bail hostels secretly opened in residential areas

Hundreds of bail hostels are being opened without public consultation as part of moves to ease jail overcrowding

'Ghost bus' runs to spare ministers' blushes

Empty route disguises closure of several sections of railway

Thousands bankrupted over unpaid council tax

Families lose their homes over a few hundred pounds as town halls use increasingly aggressive tactics to chase arrears

Baby P social work chief sues for pay off

Sharon Shoesmith, sacked as Haringey's head of children's services over case of baby tortured to death, mounts legal bid

Sealing Egypt border 'key to Gaza ceasefire'

Israel says stopping arms smuggling that supplies Hamas is key issue, as Quartet envoy Tony Blair says truce possible

Sir Alan Walters: the Times obituary

Personal economic adviser to Margaret Thatcher, he clashed dramatically with Nigel Lawson