When Gordon Brown sold half our gold reserves all those years ago, it almost precisely marked the end of the yellow metal’s long bear market.

It certainly comes as no surprise to The Fleet Street Letter that Labour are placed third in the local elections. Less than 25% of the vote for Labour, with Cameron’s mob pushing up in the 40’s and the Lib Dem’s pipping them at the post for second place.

So Labour got smashed in the local elections. No big surprise, really. It’s tempting to quote Bill Clinton’s famous maxim on what decides an election. In fact, it’s so tempting that I will.

Gordon Brown’s visit to the United States was not a great success. It was one of those visits which Prime Ministers are liable to make, when they feel in need of reminding the public of their authority. They may not have much business to discuss, but it will help their image for the voters to see them in the Rose Garden of the White House, exchanging chit chat with the President of the United States.

Shock horror, Gordon Brown says: “Sorry” Following on from his embarrassing climb down over the 10p tax rate – after the threat of a backbench rebellion – Gordon Brown has gone on the apology offensive. Perhaps he’s trying to limit some of the damage done to his credibility from the lambasting he recently received from Labour’s former chief fundraiser – Lord Levy.

When the leader of the United Nation’s World Food Programme warned that a “silent tsunami” of hunger is sweeping the globe because of soaring food prices, a lot of folks probably viewed it as just another clever sound bite tossed off by a bureaucrat.

On a personal level, it was more of a food crunch than a credit crunch…

The Americans love British singer Leona Lewis. The Islington-born X Factor winner has been a smash hit Stateside, and has become the first British female artist to top the US album charts since Sade in 1986.

I’m a clumsy man. And I was a clumsy child. Growing up, I would occasionally knock something over, like a vase of flowers or an overstocked book case.

I’ve mentioned more than a few times here that unemployment is a lagging indicator. What that means is, that things get bad in the economy, and then the jobless figures start to rise, not the other way about.