The government told MPs last autumn that the rise this summer would go ahead, but would be reduced from 5p to 3p.

BBC: Osborne postpones 3p fuel duty rise due in August

The vacuum of power created by the withdrawal last summer of the Israeli military has given rise for the moment to anarchy.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Mineshaft canaries

Although the price rise generated a short-term rise in profits last summer, in the first nine months of this year profits fell by 95% from a year earlier as customers walked away, and as the company bore the cost of an aggressive international expansion.

BBC: Netflix takes poison pill to ward off Icahn takeover

But now the impact on exports of higher oil prices, coupled with a sharp rise in the yen since last summer a consequence largely of financial-market volatility throws that profitability into question.

ECONOMIST: Japan's pain

The theatre's critically acclaimed production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Artuto Ui will return after running last summer.

BBC: Barnum musical to return at Chichester Festival Theatre

The new ranges have proved a success with a 36% rise in sales last summer, followed by this latest upbeat trading statement.

BBC: Next brushes off gloom

Much of the rise came from the rained-off international between India and Pakistan due to be staged in Glasgow last summer.

BBC: Record figures for Scots cricket