What the Sunday papers said

Independent on Sunday: Failed at the NHS? Try again at HS2

One of the most heavily criticised men behind the NHS’s IT fiasco has been made a director at HS2, the similarly under fire £50bn railway linking London with the north. Patrick O’Connell’s appointment comes at a time when HS2 is preparing a public relations charm offensive.

Mail on Sunday: Confidence at new high as shoppers splash out

Consumer spending got off to a flying start this year, giving rise to further optimism that the economy is back on track. Figures from Barclaycard show that spending in January increased 4.2 per cent on the same month last year as people found ways to cut bills for food and energy.

Sunday Times: Barclays takes £150bn axe to casino bank

Barclays is to slash the size of its investment bank by a fifth as part of its efforts to win back the trust of the Bank of England. Thousands of jobs are at risk under the plan to sell off £150bn of loans and toxic securities and reduce annual costs by £1.7bn. The bank reports its annual results on Tuesday.

Sunday Telegraph: Eurozone banks face £42bn ‘capital black hole’

Eurozone banks are facing a new capital black hole of as much as €50bn (£42bn), according to one of the UK’s most respected financial analysts. Davide Serra, who advises the Government on banking, said stress tests by the European Central Bank were likely to find fresh prob-lems in the region’s banks.