Sport News 

Berbatov deal a matter of urgency

The 2-1 defeat in the Super Cup final will increase United's determination to capture the £28m signing

• Scholes caught red-handed in Monte Carlo

• Zabaleta wants to be City slicker

Pietersen finds heroes all round for England

England v South Africa: Samit Patel was a deserved man of the match after 31 runs and a maiden five-wicket haul

Chelsea face heartache over Robinho deal

Real Madrid perform about-turn and insist that the Brazil striker is going nowhere in the present transfer window

Business news 

Stores spell last orders for pubs

Retailers are to become the biggest sellers of beer as Britain’s pub industry feels the pressure of the economic downturn

Lenders face huge hit on mortgage fraud

Mortgage lenders may be sitting on loans fraudulently obtained by criminals to support drug dealing and money-laundering

ScottishPower and npower increase prices

The rise could push families into fuel poverty, with five million households predicted to spend 10% of their income on energy

Comment 

Three grunts for Neanderthal geniuses

So Homo neanderthalensis was not as thick as we thought. We'd better have an apology from the PM

• Giles Coren

Can Obama purge America's original sin?

The Democratic nominee stands in a line stretching back to the Founding Fathers' promise of a free and equal country

• Tristram Hunt

Nature superior to Man? What tosh

For some, love of Nature is the flipside of distaste for Man. This is nonsense: as the No1 species, we're in control

• Matthew Parris

Life & Style 

Private members' clubs for mums

Forget the gathering in the local church hall, this club has champagne, cupcakes and a crèche

Bargainhunter: corner shops

Looking for healthy food in a corner shop is like trying to find intelligent conversation in a Yates’s Wine Lodge

How to wear this season's trend: lace

It's good to make an effort, but getting dressed should not take you several hours. Lace will take you several days

Arts & Entertainment 

The 20 best films to see this autumn

Our pick of the new season’s crop, from Bush satire W to Bond's Quantum of Solace, Brideshead Revisited and beyond

One heil of a performance by Rupert Friend

He’s not just Keira Knightley’s squeeze... Rupert Friend has shown his mettle playing a fearsome Nazi, says Kevin Maher

Podcast of the week: Stephen Fry’s elegant rambles

Fry is smug, but then he has a lot to be smug about, not least the ability to waffle for 30 to 45 minutes about not very much