LIAM Mackey is off in sunny Spain so regular substitute ALLAN PROSSER has done his stretching exercises on the touchline, stripped off the tracksuit and is charging into the fray to mediate your opinions for the first time this season.

The leading shares on the London Stock Exchange sank into the red today as investors took scant comfort from President Bush’s pledge to “rise to the occasion” with a banking rescue.

A division of Barclays which pays pensions to more than 70,000 policyholders a month is to be sold in a deal worth £753m (€950m), it was announced today.

The Bank of England is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold today but this is unlikely to stop mortgage rates moving both up and down.

The Woolwich in the UK today became the latest lender to announce it was cutting the cost of its fixed-rate mortgages.

Barclays was on the verge of a new era today as the controversial tenure of chief executive-turned-chairman Matt Barrett draws to a close.

Banking giant Barclays is set to increase its number of high street branches in prime locations in the UK, a report said today.

A football fan was last night charged with indecent or racist chanting at a Premiership football match.

The impact of fuel costs and the slowing US economy should overshadow British Airways' assessment of the last nine months of 2000.