1. Gordon Brown is nowhere, yet everywhere (Independent)

Without acknowledgement from either side, it is Brown's rulebook that persists, writes Steve Richards.

2. How business can bypass banks (BBC)

A wonkish piece from Robert Peston, looking at one easy way to boost lending to small and medium enterprises: letting them borrow against invoices from big businesses.

3. Would a Higher Top Tax Rate Raise Revenues? (New York Times)

Bruce Bartlett presents an American angle on a question that has been asked in Britain for a while.

4. Auction-house opacity datapoint of the day (Reuters)

A bizarre piece of misdirection from the world of fine art becomes an enlightening microeconomic case-study for Felix Salmon.

5. A century of gilt (FT alphaville)

Joseph Cotterill goes into depth on the Chancellor's plan to sell 100-year bonds.