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Entrepreneurs Panel

Steve Purdham
Debbie Pierce
Richard O'Sullivan
Brian Hay
Gary Jacobson
Jeremy Roberts
Tony Caldeira
David Pollock
Ian Morris

Service sector recovery stutters

Bad and a rise in VAT led to an unexpected slowing in Britain's service sector last month.

The two point fall in the CIPS/Markit services PMI index -- to 54.5 from 56.8 -- contrasted with a sharp rise in the equivalent manufacturing index earlier this week.

"The heavy snow appears to have hit services harder than manufacturing in January," said Paul Smith, senior economist at Markit.

"Whereas manufacturers were often able to make up for lost production days, service providers, especially consumer-facing firms, simply saw fewer customers."

Have private schools been given six of the best by the recession? EN examines the real bottom line.

These days the data held on your computers could be worth more than the hardware itself. So what can you do to make it more secure?

Examples of impressive business sales were thin on the ground in 2009 but this year could see that change – if sellers get their presentation right.

During the recession marketing budgets have migrated onto the internet at a rate of knots. What has the impact been? EN investigates.

The economy might still be limping along but at least gold traders are making a mint. EN discovers how the inflation of a bubble is spawning a glut of new businesses.

Five Minutes With

London has two mayors. One, a mop-topped former journalist, wields more power than anybody outside the Cabinet and many within it. The other, a sober accountant, spends a significant proportion of his year in office jetting around the world telling anyone who will listen what jolly fine chaps our bankers really are.

Elizabeth Donevan packs her spotted hankie and sticks a pin in a map as Smaller Earth boss Chris Arnold reveals...