was nationalised in 2008 – to Virgin Money for £747m. 19 November – Four Metropolitan Police officers are stabbed while chasing a suspect in Kingsbury, north London. Two officers are seriously injured, and a 32-year-old suspect is arrested for attempted murder. 22 November – Median survival periods for cancer in England and Wales have risen from 12 months to nearly six years since the 1970s, but with little change in some cancers, figures show. 27 November Iran's parliament vote by a large majority to downgrade diplomatic relations with the UK. The move comes after the UK Treasury imposed sanctions on Iranian banks. Wales national football team manager Gary Speed, 42, is found dead at his home in Chester. Speed, who had previously managed Sheffield United, had been a prominent footballer who was one of his country's most capped players with 85 appearances at senior level and also won a league title with Leeds United and was an FA Cup runner-up twice with Newcastle United. 28 November – The OECD warns that the UK and the Eurozone could be on the brink of another recession barely two years after the previous one. 30 November – Public sector workers stage a strike over government plans to make their members pay more and work longer to earn their pensions. December 8 December – The Prime Minister, David Cameron, vetos a European Union treaty concerning the Eurozone crisis. 16 December – 2011 Feltham and Heston by-election: The Labour Party's Seema Malhotra retains the seat in south-west London for the party in a by-election sparked by the death of the previous MP. 17 December Opinion polls show that the Conservatives have established a lead of up to six points ahead of Labour, who had narrowly led most of the polls this year, since David Cameron's veto on the European Union treaty last week. Johann Lamont becomes leader of the Scottish Labour Party. 23 December – Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is treated in hospital for a blocked coronary artery. Undated 2011 was the second warmest year on record for the UK, according to the Met Office. Only 2006, with an average temperature of 9.73C (49.5F), was warmer than 2011's average temperature of 9.62C (49.3F). The UK population rose by 470,000 between 2009 and 2010, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics – the biggest increase in nearly 50 years. Publications Julian