Is there any real long term trend towards stability and prosperity in Iraq? A recent upsurge in murderous suicide bombings, both in the Kurdish north and Baghdad, puts into question the idea that the US troop surge is having a profound impact on the ‘security situation' in the country. The British withdrawal from Basra is not at all an example of ‘a job well done' but of yet another retreat by declining British imperialism.

As economic crisis wracks the globe, the international bourgeoisie seems to be on the ropes. It may also be possible for them to squeeze some kind of economic ‘recovery' out of the wreckage of the world economy - but this can only delay the inevitable.

After months in the political doldrums, Gordon Brown finally has something to be cheerful about. At one point nearly removed by an internal Labour Party coup, he's now feted by Nobel Prize winning economists for saving the world economy through the example set in the bailout of British banks.