Universities have complained that the current A-level system does not stretch pupils sufficiently or give them the intellectual independence and curiosity needed for degree-level study.

BBC: A-level students facing shake-up

Reforms may be hammered out in education and immigration and (at a stretch) the environment and the Social Security pension system.

ECONOMIST: American politics

Obese people are at greater risk of heart attacks, diabetes, strokes and a host of other ailments that not merely hurt them, but stretch America's already overtaxed health-care system.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

The work, which includes cleaning and surveying the drainage system, will focus on a 0.5 mile (800 metre) stretch of the road around Bigrigg.

BBC: Investigation into flood-hit A595 in Cumbria

The new voting system means that the voting forms will be the longest ever used in a British election: some will stretch to over two and a half feet.

ECONOMIST: This time it matters