Catch up on the week

SUNDAY

The financier behind a move to find another bidder to take over HBOS accepted defeat. Jim Spowart said he had come to the conclusion that no alternative bid to Lloyds TSB's £12bn offer would be encouraged by the UK Government.

MONDAY

Two New Zealand men were convicted of murdering a three-year-old girl after months of torturing the child. Wiremu Curtis, 19, and his brother Michael, 22, face life sentences for the murder of Nia Glassie, who died of brain injuries in August 2007, two weeks after suffering fatal kicks to her head.

TUESDAY

An Indian warship destroyed a suspected Somali pirate vessel after it came under attack in the Gulf of Aden.

WEDNESDAY

David Brown, a charity worker from Edinburgh, was sentenced to 20 years in jail in Albania after being convicted of sexually abusing children at an orphanage he founded.

THURSDAY

A US woman went on trial accused of using a fictional online personality to bully a 13-year-old girl who later killed herself. Lori Drew, 49, allegedly posed as a boy on the MySpace website to befriend Megan Meier, who hanged herself after their virtual relationship ended.

FRIDAY

Pop star Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie, left, were granted a divorce at the High Court in London. The decree nisi was granted a month after the couple declared their eight-year marriage was over.

GOOD WEEK

Beavers

The rodents are being reintroduced into Scotland 400 years after being hunted to extinction. Four families of eight adult beavers and nine babies arrived at Heathrow airport last week from Norway, and will spend six months in quarantine before being released into the Scottish countryside.

BAD WEEK

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper

The astronaut watched helplessly as her tool bag drifted off into space during an attempt to fix a damaged part on the international space station. The briefcase-sized bag floated away as she cleaned and greased a stuck joint on a wing of solar panels on the space station.

WHAT THE PAPERS SAID

... RBS bosses saying "sorry"

The Herald

Shareholders demanded an act of contrition from Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive, and Sir Tom McKillop, outgoing chairman, for their part in a profoundly reckless expansion and investment strategy that brought the bank to the brink of collapse. In the event, both men said sorry.

The Scotsman

Such apologies were absolutely necessary. For until they came there could be no meaningful break with the old bank and a start made to the task ahead of rebuilding confidence and, with it, the bank's name and reputation.

The Daily Mail

Mr Sorry comes too late: that favourite reproach of old-fashioned nannies could be applied to Sir Fred for his belated apology. Despite waiving his right to a golden handshake, Goodwin will still make £300,000 in salary by staying in post until January.

Daily Record

Credit to Sir Tom for, unlike other big bank bosses, he told customers, staff and shareholders he was "profoundly sorry" for the decisions he and others made which had brought the RBS to its knees. It was quite a climbdown and quite an admission.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

I have never watched The X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing, while the very concept of I'm A Celebrity seems abhorrent. If it were not for the occasional rugby match, I'd probably throw the telly out of the window. But then, unlike – apparently – everyone else, I have a wee square telly, rather than one of these flat screen things. So many aspects of modern life are incomprehensible, especially those things associated with television.

Holyrood Chronicles, http://holyroodchronicles.blogspot.com/

The news that the Ulster Unionists and the Conservatives have come to an agreement to stand under a joint ticket in future elections must surely be welcomed by everyone. This agreement is about far more than party politics. It is a sign that the Good Friday Agreement is succeeding and a further sign that sectarian politics is on the wane.

Iain Dale's Diary, http://iaindale.blogspot.com/

Barack Obama's desire to keep a low profile while he fleshes out his administration is understandable, but frustrating. And George W Bush's blatant diffidence (about the economy] is annoying, too – not that he has even the tiniest shred of credibility left. So we're left with a void at the top at a moment of real national anxiety. History has resumed, but time seems to have frozen to a dead stop.

Joe Klein, Swampland, http://swampland.blogs.time.com/

RIP

REG VARNEY

July 11, 1916 – November 16, 2008

Cor blimey! Luvaduck! When it came to Cockney cheeky chappie bus drivers of the old-school variety then Reg Varney – the actor who played Stan Butler in Seventies sitcom On The Buses – had no peer.

Varney starred in 76 episodes and, although the TV critics were sniffy, the public loved him. The son of a Camden Town factory worker, Varney teamed up with frustrated inspector, Blakey (Stephen Lewis) in the show, where his role was to outsmart Blakey for the viewers' amusement.

THE WEEK ON THE WEB

Believe it or not, John Sergeant used to be a political journalist. Here, on the TV show Room 101, he talks about his dealings with Margaret Thatcher.

www.youtube.com/watch?v>RRgvrGEwgh0

Monty Python launches its own channel on YouTube in an attempt to flog its DVDs in time for Christmas www.youtube.com/watch?v>OGqX-tkDXEk

Having Obama withdrawal symptoms? Go behind the scenes with the transition team preparing for his presidency.

www.change.gov/

TABLOID TALK

Forget the credit crunch, Aldi is better than the posh shops on taste alone. The Scottish Sun has the news that the budget supermarket's mince pies are even superior to those produced by Harrods. Consumer group Which? had the unenviable task of trying out a whole range of festive pies and found that the best pies came from Marks & Spencer, their Luxury Deep Filled treats.