Gordon Brown is currently facing a coordinated effort by leading members of his own party to persuade him to resign and make way for a new leader before next year's general election. Ageing Blairite warhorses Charles Clarke and David Blunkett have weighed in - accusing Brown of bringing "self-inflicted injuries" upon the Labour government, while Hazel Blears openly attacked Brown in print.
RESIDENT Zardari of Pakistan is visiting Washington to get another lecture on how he should be doing more to combat the growing threat of the Taliban. This is rich coming from the United States, since the Taliban was a tiny and very unpopular fringe – even in the tribal north-west part of Pakistan - until the Americans started unprovoked bombing raids on that area. Even civilian murdered by American military terrorism leads to dozens of new recruits to the Taliban simply because they are anti-American.