Brown speaks to Congress
Brown hit all the requisite ceremonial notes, and then some, says Michael Tomasky. His discussion of our nations' shared values and culture was (for such an occasion) comparatively free of cliche. His assurance that "your family's sorrow is our family's sorrow" when a soldier is lost is the kind of thing members of Congress love to hear. And his opening tribute to cancer-stricken Senator Ted Kennedy was off the charts. Kennedy inspires mixed emotions across my country, but in that chamber, he is universally adored, by colleagues from both parties. But it was really the substance, not the ceremony, that carried Brown through. His central idea, that it's time for a "global new deal", is an almost excruciatingly simple one. MICHAEL TOMASKYThe Guardian
Full article: This American likes what he heard 
An hour spent scouring the US political websites yesterday unearthed barely a reference to Gordon, says Matthew Norman. In the Slate digest of major US news that pings daily into the inbox, his name didn't feature at all. And this on the day of his address to Congress. More attention would have been paid were he the governor of a medium-sized state in Washington to pay homage and beg for federal funding - and in a less imperfect world that's precisely what he would be. For decades every sub-Ben Elton stand-up has counted on an easy laugh by calling Britain the 51st State. They entirely missed the point. Becoming the 51st State of the Union would be a colossal promotion. MATTHEW NORMANThe Independent
Full article: Turn us into the 51st state? Why not?
The hardest word
Imagine Gordon Brown settling down for the cameras, in an armchair next to an elegant table lamp, and saying "Sorry I sold the gold", while a lone tear coursed down his sad, battered face, writes Christopher Howse. It won't happen. Churchill did not apologise for Gallipoli and the loss of 46,000 troops. Instead he resigned; he had to. When the Falkland Islands were invaded in 1982, Lord Carrington honourably resigned as Foreign Secretary. Since then, ministers have imitated the habits of the barnacle, cementing themselves to the Front Bench with XXX-strength patent insoluble shame-resistant superglue. CHRISTOPHER HOWSEDaily Telegraph
Full article: Sorry excuse for an apology from our bankers and politicians
Ted Kennedy's obscene knighthood
The decision to award an honorary knighthood to Senator Edward Kennedy shows Britain at its most masochistic, New Labour at its most cynical and - if he accepts it - Kennedy at his most hypocritical, writes Andrew Roberts. Ever since Patrick Kennedy (Ted's Irish great-grandfather) set foot on Noddle Island, Boston, on April 21, 1849, the family has nursed a deep resentment against the country that they blame for forcing them out of County Wexford during the Great Potato Famine. Let us look more closely at his record in relation to Ulster. In 1971, Kennedy likened the British presence there to the American invasion of Vietnam - a despicable analogy at a time when US troops were using the poisonous chemical Agent Orange and napalm against the Vietcong. ANDREW ROBERTSDaily Mail
Full article: The obscenity of giving Ted Kennedy a knighthood
The Pakistan badlands
According to MI5, more then half the terrorist suspects currently under surveillance in this country were trained in militant camps inside the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, says Ben Macintyre. Some 25,000 square miles of rugged mountains and deep ravines, these are Pakistan's badlands, a hotbed of jihadism, arms-running, drug-smuggling and bribery, where ancient feuds are overlaid with ever-shifting allegiances. In theory, it is ruled by tribal elders; in practice, it is hardly ruled at all. The 23-year-old Winston Churchill took part in Sir Bindon Blood's expedition against the Pashtuns in 1897, and captured the British mixture of fear and admiration towards the "noble savages" of the North West Frontier. "The Pushtun," he wrote, "are always engaged in public or private war. Every man is a warrior, a politician and a theologian... Every family cultivates its vendetta; every clan, its feud." BEN MACINTYREThe Times
Full article: Why the Pakistan badlands must be tamed
In Brief
The least bad leader
Meanwhile, a prime minister offered the floor of Congress faces surly deafness at home. Mr Brown has many faults. Miscalculations and a mulish streak mean that the self-styled liberator of tomorrow remains a prisoner of the past. Even so, he has shown himself to be the best – or the least bad – leader for chaotic times. Mary Riddell Daily Telegraph
Full article: Gordon Brown is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't
Help women
For every year a girl attends school in the developing world, her family's income will increase by 20 per cent. If women were permitted to own the land they break their backs working, food production in Africa could receive a 20 per cent hike. Sophie Morris The Independent
Full article: Help women and you can save the world
Needles
Excluding Africa, one in three HIV infections results from the use of contaminated injecting equipment. But, while countless studies have concluded that provision of sterile equipment reduces needle-sharing but does not promote drug use, in many countries drug control continues to trump public health. In Russia, which has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the world, users don't even have the option of weaning themselves off illegal drugs using a substitute such as methadone, because it is itself illegal. Libby Brooks The Guardian
Full article: Never mind the evidence - a drug-free world is nigh
Council housing crumbles
Professor John Hills, a leading housing expert based at the London School of Economics, has pointed out how different things were in 1979, when 20 per cent of council tenants were in the top 10 per cent of earners. Now, it beggars belief that anyone who could so easily avoid it, especially in the inner cities, would subject themselves to council-estate life. Deborah Orr The Independent
Full article: Is council housing the answer to our problems?
Sudan's war criminal
Omar al-Bashir's spokesman confirmed the president would attend an Arab summit in Qatar this month as planned. So far at least, Bashir clearly has no fear of arrest while travelling abroad. Given yesterday's largely mealy-mouthed statements by western governments, and the broader worries about destabilising Sudan, his current calculations are probably correct. Simon Tisdall The Guardian
Full article: What now for Bashir?
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