The Nifty 250: News of the day in so many words

TESCO HAS WITHDRAWN controversial plans to build an Express store on Hope Street. It is believed the supermarket giant abandoned its plans after growing public concern that it was not in keeping with the historic street and conservation area.

Tesco corporate affairs manager, Michael Kissman, said last night, “Our designs needed amending to be more in keeping with the conservation area, so we have decided to look for an alternative site” but added the company remained “committed” to Liverpool.

HUMAN REMAINS WERE DISCOVERED by council workers in a boarded-up house in Liverpool. The private property in Fitzgerald Road, Old Swan, had been empty for some time and the council was planning to carry out "dilapidation repairs" when the remains were found. Tests are now being carried out but police have said they are not treating the death as suspicious.

JAKE BROCKMAN, former keyboard player with Echo and the Bunnymen, has been killed in a motorbike crash on the Isle of Man.

Jake, was 53 and married. He lived in Bristol and was a sound recorder in the BBC's Natural History Unit. He died when his bike was in collision with a converted ambulance near Kirk Michael on Tuesday.

Known to fans as the "Fifth Bunnyman", he had been associated with the band since their 80s heyday and became a full-time member in 1989.

In 1989 the band's first drummer, Pete De Freitas, died in a similar crash at Formby.

MERSEYSIDE MPS ARE DEMANDING a maximum wage to prevent the return of extortionate City pay and bonuses. Birkenhead MP Frank Field and Bootle MP Joe Benton are among more than 30 Labour MPs pressurising on Gordon Brown to rein in the so-called “masters of the universe” as the end of the recession looms.