Peter Hoskin

There's an air of desperation about Peter Mandelson's article in the Wall Street Journal today.  The notion that the UK's uniquely well-placed to deal with the downturn seems to have been jettisoned - Mandy gives the excuse that "the U.K. has taken an early hit from a credit crunch that began with a serious failure in financial markets - perhaps even more than most because of its large financial-services sector." - but the essential message is still the same: creditors, please don't worry, the UK will remain solvent.  This paragraph contains it in a nutshell: "Just as importantly, when the government announced its borrowing plans last year, it made clear commitments to specified tax increases and a slowed rate of public-spending growth from 2011 onwards.

Plenty of interesting comments have come out of Mervyn King's appearance before the Treasury Select Committee - Reuters collects some of the highlights here.  But, after the claims Lord Turner made yesterday, King's criticism of the regulatory system is particularly eye-catching.  Here's how the Telegraph's James Kirkup reports it:  Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, has said that financial regulators were unable to stop City banks taking huge risks because they did not get support from the British Government and MPs. Regulators who had criticised banks lending in 2006 or 07 would have had "a massively difficult task" persuading politicians to back them.

Ok, so I have a bit of a fascination with space and space travel, which I manfully try not to inflict on CoffeeHousers.  But indulge me just this once, as this image taken by the European Southern Observatory - and reported by the Telegraph here - is too stunning not to share.  For obvious reasons, it's been nicknamed the Eye of God: Truth is, it's a "shell of gas and dust that has been blown off by a faint central star".  Even so, an arresting reminder of the beauty of our universe.

With all the subtlety of a bludgeon, Liam Byrne goes on the attack against those warning about the hole in our public finances.  His primary target is Iain Martin's column last week, but he also takes aim at Malcolm Offord's recent report claiming that £100 billion of public spending cuts may be needed by 2020 to get the public finances in an acceptable state.  This kind of thinking, Byrne suggests, represents an "underground movement" behind David Cameron; proof that "The marketing is all progressive; but the product is all conservative." So far as the spin cycle's concerned, Byrne's remarks are striking for two reasons.  First, they show just how determined Labour are to stick with a "Tory cuts" attack.

This is as nectar for political anoraks: a new collection of BBC archive videos charting Margaret Thatcher's rise to becoming Prime Minister.  Some nostalgic viewing in there for CoffeeHousers, I dare say.

Brace yourselves.  It looks as though the next couple of weeks are going to be among Brown's busiest and - so far as the taxpayer's concerned - costliest yet.  As the Sunday Times sets out, the flurry of initiatives and announcements may include: a call to ban 100 percent mortgages; a cash injection of £10 billion for Northern Rock; the start of a £100 billion programme of "quantitative easing"; and the establishment of a "bad bank".  The final tab could hit an eye-watering £500 billion. It's the proposal to ban 100 percent mortgages which catches the eye and, to be fair to Brown, it makes a great deal of sense.