Mr Mandelson's White Paper on competitiveness, published on December 16th, is shot through with his near-obsessive belief that the key to closing the gap lies in a more profitable use of science.

ECONOMIST: The economy

National Statistician Jil Matheson said that the absence of a UK-wide official private rental index was a "key gap" in data on the housing market.

BBC: Lettings boards

For the longer term the economic fundamentals of North America and the eurozone will be the key to investors, with experts predicting a "closing of the gap".

BBC: Euro waits on summit

The project will focus on opportunities to create replicable models for bridging the gap between enlisted training and academic coursework, improving the documentation of health care training, and working with other key stakeholders such as state licensure boards.

WHITEHOUSE: Helping Veterans Transition to Careers in Nursing

To address this gap, the Office of National AIDS Policy ( ONAP) commissioned the Institute of Medicine ( IOM) to identify key indicators to monitor HIV outcomes.

WHITEHOUSE: Measuring Meaningful HIV Clinical Care Outcomes