Gordon Brown led opposition yesterday to calls from a heavyweight Lords committee for a cap on non-European Union immigration. He lined up with prominent business figures in rejecting suggestions from the Lords Economic Affairs Committee that record numbers of immigrants have had little or no impact on the economy.

The British public has delivered an overwhelming snub to the Government's push to introduce a plastic bag levy at supermarkets to tackle climate change.

Apple's latest iMac desktop monitor boasts the broadest rainbow palette in the computer world with a capacity to display "millions of colours", according to its marketing material. Or does it? A Texas resident has sued Apple for deceptive advertising on the grounds that a 20in version of the iMac can display only 262,144 true colours.

Tesco has come under fire from a supporter of its Fresh & Easy launch over an apparent U-turn on a pledge to report separate numbers for its fledging US business. James Anstead of Citigroup, the UK’s top-rated food retail analyst, said in a recent note that Tesco was shying away from a promise to break out the US as a separate business unit, having told analysts that it would when it reports full-year results this month.

Most MPs, peers and MEPs have had no business experience, research last night revealed.Fewer than one in seven MPs have 10 years' or more experience of private sector management or financial services, according to the comprehensive analysis of politicians' CVs. Almost three-quarters - 72 per cent - have no business experience whatsoever.

It was supposed to be an easy and uncontroversial change. When the Chancellor used his Pre-Budget report to alter the capital gains tax regime, he painted it as a simplification that would bring benefits to all. Politically speaking, Darling also wanted to show a clenched fist to wealthy private equity bosses, which the Labour left and union leaders had so strenuously campaigned against, but Alistair Darling felt safe in the knowledge that few people would shed a tear for them.

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