Rosie Niven

As the Olympic torch nears its final lap, communities that welcomed it tell Channel 4 News it has drawn them closer to the event. But writer Iain Sinclair calls the Games a “national hallucination”.

The tabloids make a fuss about “plastic Brits” but Team GB is not alone in spreading its net widely. Ahead of London 2012, Channel 4 News reveals the winners and losers in the talent recruitment race.

The Olympic effect is hitting the summer job market – but only in London and the south east, recruitment agencies and employers tell Channel 4 News.

The wait for a British Wimbledon winner continues after Andy Murray’s failure to replicate Fred Perry’s achievement of 1936. But there are few world-class Britons able to challenge the Scot.

Every British athlete who wins gold at the London 2012 Paralympics will appear on a stamp later this year, Royal Mail announces.

An MP condemns curbs on local beer at the London 2012 Olympics claiming it is “totally at odds” with the Games’ emphasis on British character.

Western Europe’s tallest building, the Shard, opens in London, having defied objectors and the credit crunch during its 12 years in the planning.

Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire loses a supreme court fight to keep the identity of the person who instructed him to intercept messages a secret.

MPs call for standardised national syllabuses as part of reforms to remove “perverse incentives” for students to take dumbed-down exams at school.

Urgent reforms to protect children in residential homes from sexual exploitation are announced after it is revealed that a disproportionate number of cared-for children are being groomed or abused.

New motoring laws have come into force in France, making it compulsory for drivers to carry breathalyser kits. But what other rules should Britons know about before driving on the continent?

World powers have agreed on a power transition plan for strife-hit Syria, with a unity government to include members of the present government and opposition, international envoy Kofi Annan said.

A surprise deal between eurozone countries is struck at a Brussels summit allowing bail-outs to directly support distressed banks, rather than making national governments taking on the burden.

The police watchdog launches an investigation into the conduct of a senior police officer in relation to his alleged knowledge that Milly Dowler’s mobile phone was hacked by the News of the World.

Half of the capital’s employers intend to let staff work from home during the London 2012 Olympics with some considering other flexible working arrangements during the games, a survey reveals.