Gordon Brown is by all accounts socially awkward, outside of a close clan, bad-tempered, suspicious and constantly plotting. In other words, he’s a professional politician, in a position of great strain.
United Kingdom
Letter from...: Plymouth: dairy, dairy, quite contrary
UNESCO lists the Cornwall language as extinct and as of 2008 only 2000 people speak it fluently. This may soon change. The first Cornish language crèche opened a few weeks ago, writes Rafiq Copeland from Plymouth.
revealed 
Life inside Number 10 Downing St
An explosive political memoir by chief political commentator of the Observer, Andrew Rawnsley paints British PM Gordon Brown as an indecisive and besieged pollie, battling over whether to call an early election or not.
Feeling hungry? Great Britain faces a food shortage
We need to produce more food in the next 50 years than we did in the last 5,000, on less land with less water, less fertiliser and fewer green house gases, say experts. Are we facing a potential global food crisis?
Dr David Nutt is not the new Galileo
Dope-loving Britons are hailing Dr David Nutt — the UK government drugs advisor whose views on cannabis got him sacked — as a “modern-day Galileo”. Get real, says Brendan O’Neill: Galileo was a pioneer; Nutt is a famewhore.
Europe gets a new constitution — sort of
The big news in Europe this week is the final ratification of the Lisbon treaty, which provides a new constitutional structure for the European Union. But where’s the euroscepticism gone? Has the EU proved its ‘socialist plot’ claims wrong?
Lessons in History: Fascism in British politics
Despite the prominence of Nick Griffin of the BNP
Where are all the voices that support immigration?
It’s not just Australia getting worked up over asylum seekers. In the UK, anti-immigration fans get all the press. But, if you believe in free trade, you must also believe in the free movement of labour, writes Alex Massie.
Call to break up UK banks resonates here
Yesterday, the head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, said he wants a break-up of banks to prevent them becoming “too important to fail”. It’s a message with some echoes in Australia.
How David Cameron won over The Sun
Thanks to months of networking, wine drinking and yacht boarding, the Conservative Party leader wooed the Murdochs, says Andy McSmith The upshot: The Sun turned on Gordon Brown at the worst possible time.
A little government fiscal interference can be a good thing
Tax cuts, stimulus packages, slashed interest rates and car trade-in schemes. Astute government financial action has helped save Britain from the worst of the economic downturn. And it would be churlish to deny this, says Dan Roberts.
Terrorism is about occupation, not religion
Why did these young Muslim men decide to kill thousands of people? Excerpts from their “martyrdom mission” video recordings all point to one simple theme: “Get out of our lands”.
House of Lords 100% elected … in a decade
UK justice secretary Jack Straw will announce plans for the House of Lords chamber to become at least 80% elected. But it will take some time — which will make Tories happy.
Harriet Harman: the new Sarah Palin?
UK Deputy Leader Harriet Harman — a tenacious hard nosed feminist — is “bringing politics back to Westminster” in her role as the stand-in PM.
UK Afghanistan commitment unravels at remarkable speed
This week’s funerals of the latest casualties has provoked an angry public debate about the war.
Christopher Hitchens: Gordon is the problem
The main if not the sole “issue” with Britain’s Labour Party appears to be the self-love and the self-pity of a PM who hasn’t even won a contested leadership election within his own party.
Ronnie Biggs: England’s own Ned Kelly
The divergence of views over Ronnie Biggs is emblematic of the left-right split, says Charles Richardson in the same way as the Australian debate over Ned Kelly: rebel outlaw hero, or bank robber and murderer?
Tory leader throws a bone to the Eurosceptics
David Cameron, leader of Britain’s Conservative Party and (barring some miraculous recovery in Labour’s fortunes) the country’s future prime minister, at least seems to keep his promises.
Prince Charles: now 25% more expensive
Another expenses scandal is brewing, with revelations that Prince Charles’ bill to the taxpayer rose from under £2½ million to over £3 million last year, most of it accounted for in overseas trips on private jets.
Police shine light on cocaine abuse
Police in England have started testing “cocaine torches” that use ultra-violet light to show up even minute traces of the illegal substance up people’s noses and on their clothes.
Guy Rundle: What Gordon Brown did next … implode
The bizarre decision to hold a secret Iraq war inquiry may be the end of Gordon Brown.
England needs its mojo back
The gallows humour that is palpable in the British press is currently swamping interest in practical remedies. Christopher Lane think Brits need to channel a bit of DH Lawrence’s “ruddy and strong” England.
Nice people take drugs. No really. I saw it on a bus
If you are travelling around central London this month, don’t be surprised to see a double-decker bus carrying the campaign slogan “Nice People Take Drugs”, writes President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation Dr Alex Wodak.
