Financial Transparency Coalition

SO I'm eating my cornflakes and I read that John Paulson, the New York hedge fund king, has made £270 million betting that the Royal Bank of Scotland share price would fall over the last four months.

The UK has failed to join a new international crackdown on financial secrecy and tax havens by more than 50 countries, including Germany, France and Spain - part of a package of measures to restore the world's economy to health.

President-elect Barack Obama plans to crack down on international tax havens, including Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, within weeks of taking power in January, putting him on a collision course with Gordon Brown.