Twitter unofficially became the fourth largest country in the world this week, with the micro-blogging system reaching 10m active users in the UK alone, more than the combined total of people who buy daily national newspapers.

The significant milestone marks a shift in the balance of power from politicians and press barons to the individual, handing power to the people and underlining its influence as one of the primary communication mediums of choice – with the Arab Spring one of many examples highlighting the global influence of Twitter.

However, with great power comes great responsibility, and tweeps haven’t always been responsible in their use of social media. Twitter was perceived to have played a major role in the London riots, and various corporations and individuals have fallen victim to unsolicited tweets.

Despite this, Twitter will only continue to grow in influence, and with 80% of UK users accessing it on mobile phones, Twitter owes gratitude to the smartphone manufacturers who enabled it to become a globally accessible phenomenon. Furthermore, by announcing it will honour a ‘Do Not Track’ request from users, it has positively differentiated itself from rivals such as Google and Facebook.

From a position of uncertainty earlier this year, Vauxhall has confirmed that the new Astra will be built in the UK, paving the way major investment for the UK’s motor industry.

It is the latest endorsement for the UK car industry from foreign owners, with Nissan, Honda and Jaguar Land Rover all either committing their futures or increasing production in Britain. It also marks a rare occasion where all parties, including unions, staff, the employer and the Government, are able to come to an amicable solution.

The positive effect of this should not be underestimated. For the first time, Britain is now exporting more cars than it is importing, marking a great success story for British manufacturing, particularly as the Ellesmere Port was in direct competition with GM’s Opel factory in Bochum, Germany, whose future remains at risk of closure.

In a tough retail environment, lower prices and struggling rivals helped Asda increase its like-for-like sales by over 2%, helping the company reach a record market share of 17.6% in the UK.

While Tesco and Morrisons continue to struggle, Asda benefited from its focus on value, with consumers once more looking to make savings. A revamped own-brand range and its “price guarantee” also seems to have appealed to budget-conscious shoppers.

Asda’s success could be put down to its customer engagement – it also won the battle for Christmas grocery spend last December. The two buzzwords in the grocery market are ‘fresh’ and ‘service’, and Asda’s CFO, Rob McWilliam, believes Asda is now reaping the benefits of investing in quality – through its tie up with Leith’s Cookery School.

Tesco continues to be the market leader for now, but with Sainsbury’s and Asda breathing down its neck, how much longer will this be the case?

In yet another damaging episode for the technology giant, the CEO of Yahoo! was forced to step down this week after it was revealed that he did not have qualifications claimed on his CV.

While Facebook, Google and even Spotify appear to be flourishing, the US internet company is struggling to revive its flagging fortunes. The only significant decision made by the CEO was to cut 2,000 jobs, and this poses yet another leadership crisis, particularly after the acrimonious departure of previous CEO Carol Bartz.

It was hedge fund manager Third Point who discovered the error and lobbied for the CEO to step down, and this comes amid a proxy battle to install four directors on to the board. While this may be seen as a victory for Yahoo’s largest outside shareholder, it does nothing to convince its stakeholders that can provide genuine competition to its tech rivals or reverse its decline.

The weaknesses of VaR have been well documented by the losses at JP Morgan and it is clear that the model is fundamentally flawed and unsuitable, particularly in times of political uncertainty or economic volatility, as it does not account for unexpected events in financial markets, liquidity risk, political or regulatory risk.

VaR has been adopted by numerous banks and the Basel Committee as a measure of risk management, but very few traders measure risk using VaR. It therefore begs the question as to why regulators keep insisting on it when its flaws are so clear – if the euro were to break up, for example, relying on historical relationships through VaR to quantify risk could be suicidal.

Many market experts believe that in today’s market conditions, it is essential that institutions undertake daily, or even intraday, monitoring of the hedges’ value. They cannot just rely on simpler instruments to hedge common portfolios – it must be combined with other stress testing measures in order to be truly effective.

This event has battered the reputation of JP Morgan and the banking industry, and it seems inevitable that stricter regulation is on its way. Let’s hope, for the reputation of the industry, that the new rules are appropriate for today’s unprecedented market conditions.

There appears to be no end in sight for the long queues at London’s Heathrow Airport, and with the Olympics just a few months away, many feel the UK Border Agency’s woes will continue.

London’s international reputation is in severe danger of being damaged, with Keith Vaz MP noting that UK airports receive poor ratings from travellers. And while the Immigration Minister announced a new wave of recruitment, it seems the blame game has already begun.

The direction of the wind and lack of information from airlines in relation to passenger numbers were put forward to the Home Affairs Select Committee, but the BAA CEO said this is a culmination of “a steady deterioration over the last two years”.

Whatever the case, the UKBA must get its act together quickly – yet one cannot help but be concerned when the Prime Minister’s spokesperson admits it will take “some time” to improve the efficiency of the UK Border Force.