Political columnist Tim Hames is keen to see Brown hold an early election : "Almost all the pundits have concluded that Mr Brown is just 'too cautious' to call an election for October 25 or November 1, even though most of them concede that he would probably win comfortably. He will, they insist, stay until next May, allowing the polls to settle down before considering the question of a new mandate. Mr Brown should ignore them. He should wait until after the Conservatives have met and then dissolve the House of Commons. He is entitled to argue that voters have seen enough of him and his opponent in crises to make an assessment of them. He should observe, accurately, that the global economy is in a turbulent state and that it would be wise to invest a prime minister with full authority in these conditions." (24/09/2007)

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"But what has happened to Tony Blair?", inquires the daily. "Omnipresent up until the day of his departure on June 27th, the former British prime minister has practically disappeared from the media. In just three months his successor Gordon Brown, who is due to deliver his speech at the annual Labour Party conference today, has wholeheartedly invested his position at Downing Street. 'His good start has surprised a lot of people', considers Anthony Wells, political analyst for the polling organisation YouGov. Polls are indeed excellent for the British government: for the first time since 2006, Labour is systematically ahead of the Conservative party. ... Though he has yet to announce any radically new policy, Gordon Brown is imposing a new tone, astutely turning his weaknesses around. Reputed to be boring, he says he is a man of substance. Said to be a bad communicator, he says that, on the contrary, he avoids to manipulate the media." (24/09/2007)

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Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Gordon Brown is currently very popular in Great Britain. However Sabine Rennefanz doubts that the enthusiasm and harmony are as great within his own party: "Labour hit the magic 40 percent mark in last week's polls, giving it an eight percent lead over the Conservatives. Normally this would be a cause for celebration in Bournemouth. But not everyone in the party was happy when Brown invited Lady Margaret Thatcher, a favourite object of hate for traditional Labour supporters, to tea. And there are growing doubts about how open and sincere the patriarch really is. Contrary to promises of 'more debate', discussions are being systematically suppressed at the party conference. A record number of 130 motions were rejected by the conference committee. Brown's former allies have become his most dangerous challengers: the trade unions are planning protests against his refusal to hold a referendum on the EU treaty, as well as the closure of semi state-run sheltered workshops." (24/09/2007)

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The Catalan writer Javier Cercas won't be representing the autonomous community of Catalonia at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair because - like other well-known authors of the region - he writes in Spanish. In a guest commentary he criticises both Catalan and Spanish nationalism. Both are "as hypocritical, narrow-minded and potentially dangerous as all other forms of nationalism. In the case of Spanish nationalism this is because it doesn't grasp, or doesn't want to grasp, the fact that the Catalan language was not invented by the Catalan people for the purpose of destroying Spain's unity, but represents an important legacy for the whole country that deserves protection and promotion because otherwise it will disappear. In the case of Catalan nationalism, it's because it doesn't comprehend or refuses to comprehend that by the same token Catalan benefits from the Spanish language because obviously the latter wasn't invented solely for the purpose of destroying the Catalan language. And perhaps the world language Spanish represents the only chance of survival for català, which after all is not the private property of a few fanatical nationalists." (24/09/2007)

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Paul Laverty wrote the screenplay for Ken Loach's latest film, 'It's a Free World', about immigrant workers in the U.K. He reflects on the stories of those he interviewed to write the script. "Maybe the family of the man who died from exhaustion after continuous double shifts stamping logos on cardboard boxes in a northern warehouse, or the workers picking flowers who ended up owing more money than they earned once 'deductions' for accommodation, food and travel had been calculated, will be unimpressed by the unbearable lightness of our story. ... Listening to all these experiences, it was as if all the Factory Acts and health and safety regulations had suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, along with 150 years of trade union gains. None of this protection existed in the minds of these workers... All these workers massively subsidise our standard of living, so let's not interfere unduly." (24/09/2007)

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The date set for Romania's first European elections is drawing closer but there seems to be a shortage of candidates, Tudor Flueras comments: "Many politicians have refused to run. They've come up with all kinds of excuses. Others have been forced to put their names on the list, almost as punishment for past mistakes. It's as if the European Parliament were a place of exile for awkward and nonconformist politicians. To the best of my knowledge, not a single party has stressed how important this election is... For ten years we struggled to enter the EU but now that we're a part of it we have lost all interest in its institutions." (24/09/2007)

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Bulgaria is debating how much longer the EU should monitor the country. For Svetoslav Tersiev this is a pointlesss discussion because EU monitoring has done nothing to curb corruption anyway. "Bulgaria has allegedly been making progress in the battle against crime and corruption for over six months now, and the Commission acts like it's monitoring this process closely. This game could go on for another three years but it's already clear that it doesn't pose a problem to either the big criminals and corrupt officials and bosses or the state. The question of when the monitoring will come to an end - whether it's now, next year or in 2009 - is a mere formality. Brussels has robbed Bulgarians of their last hope that salvation from the mafia would come from outside the country." (24/09/2007)

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Two Italian soldiers were taken hostage in Afghanistan on Saturday, September 22nd and released the following Monday. The editorialist Sergio Romano responds. "This war in Afghanistan is not approved of by European public opinion. This is particularly the case in Italy, which has 2,500 men participating in the reconstruction of the country without taking part in fighting, which means they are continually under pressure from the Americans ... . It is likely that the events of the past few hours will highlight the difficulties faced by the governmental coalition which is divided on the Afghan question. It would be a good thing if, in the light of this episode, the opposition were to give up 'doing its job' and help the government firmly hold forth. What is happening in Kabul concerns the whole country and its international credibility." (24/09/2007)

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Columnist Lino Spiteri reflects on Maltese Independence Day celebrated on September 21st. "Over here Independence Day is a synonym for division and partisanship. When Nationalist Leader Dr George Borg Olivier led Malta to independence in 1964 the early reaction of his main opponent, Opposition Leader Dom Mintoff, was that the day had its significance, in allowing the people to decide for themselves. Not long after, that single positive note was loaded with heavy Labour scorn - Malta's independence was not for real, since the island remained tied to Britain with a defence agreement, which allowed the former colonial power to keep and maintain a full-blown military base here. From the start, therefore, Independence Day was celebrated by the Nationalists alone. They do that in as partisan a manner as possible. The programme of 'celebrations' for this year, was no different." (23/09/2007)

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Around a hundred Catalan nationalists set fire to portraits of King Juan Carlos on Saturday, September 22nd in Gerona, campaigning in support of a young Spaniard arrested for the same crime ten days ago. The Barcelona daily is outraged. "Every now and then there is an outburst of Manichean demonstrations that poisons relations between Catalonia and the rest of Spain. ... This visceral independence movement tends to demand, with much gesticulating, that the Spanish State fully recognises pluralism, but it is incapable of recognising, let alone respecting, the extraordinary diversity that characterises Catalan society ... . It is clear that this noisy and pretentious independent movement fuels prejudice against the Catalan cause and Catalans themselves apprehend it." (24/09/2007)

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Sweden's Finance Minister Anders Borg has announced the introduction of tougher controls on the long-term sick regarding their ability to work. The government also plans to make it more difficult to work half-days for years on end while receiving unemployment benefit. The newspaper comments: "No one will land in the gutter but life will get tougher for some. Nonetheless the government's policy is aimed at creating more jobs... as well as offering rehabilitation and subsidised employment to people on the margins of society. The goal is to restructure a system in which 1.5 million people of working age were outside the job market when the Social Democrats left office... The budget presented by Mr Borg ... is the most bold and responsible budget ever presented by a conservative government." (22/09/2007)

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The 22nd September - the anniversary of the Red Army's occupation of Tallinn in 1944 - went off without incident this year. With the rioting over the bronze statue in April 2007 still in mind, the Estonian daily voices its relief: "This shows that the government's arguments for removing the bronze statue were justified. It maintained that to prevent unwanted demonstrations in the city centre the monument would be better situated in a military cemetery than on the Tõnismägi. As the day before yesterday proved: the veterans of the Red Army and the Russian embassy brought their flowers to the cemetery and all was peaceful in the city centre." (24/09/2007)

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The daily pays homage to the French mime Marcel Marceau, who passed away on Saturday, September 22 in Paris. "It was in 1947 that he invented Bip as a tribute to Pip, the young hero of Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations'. With a plaster face, striped top, white trousers, a clown's mouth and eyes, half-Pierrot, half Charlie Chaplin, Bip was to live 60 years of world-wide success. ... Why such enthusiasm around the planet? In Japan, where he was given the status of 'living treasure' he was said to be 'surrounded by ghosts you can see'. Beyond the universal eloquence of silence and body language, Bip's mimed dramas form a catalogue of emotions and situations that function like mirrors. The mime Marceau is one of the top world television stars for a good reason: particularly well adapted to black and white, his character offers an accessible reflection where compassion has the upper hand over cruelty." (24/09/2007)

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Daniel Vighi is appalled at the lack of respect for old buildings in Romania, which he says reminds him of the indifference towards the past that prevailed under Ceaucescu. "Thermopen windows present an ugly contrast to the old ornamental features of these buildings and air conditioners disfigure their art nouveau facades. The beautifully carved wooden doors of Transylvania's fortress villages are full of holes made for yellow Eon gas pipes, which pass right through the middle of rosettes or wooden garlands that are thus spoiled forever. We are destroying our past without even realising it. In many places unique architecture has simply been pulled down to make way for those monstrosities we call hypermarkets. These assassins of our history even take pride in flattening buildings, gates, windows, old squares and courtyards. Yet the poetry of this architecture can never be revived." (24/09/2007)

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"Monsieur Maury, my pharmacist in Le Mesnil-le-Roi [near Paris], is ready to put up his annual window display of mushrooms from the local woods. As at nearly every rural drugstore in France, at least one employee traditionally helps the townspeople sort the toxic species from the comestibles", writes Brian Van der Horst as he is about to go mushroom picking. "It is a beautiful morning in Le Mesnil-le-Roi. On this side of the forest, the fungi grow in a wild profusion of colors. Red cèpes, violet cortinaire, white pom-poms of vessie de loups, bright orange curtains of wood mushroom on tree stumps. Just our luck that cèpes are so good at camouflage. We have to widen our vision, let our minds relax, watch for those caps emerging from the detritus as the sunlight dances in the swirling leaves of a golden autumn. No doubt about it, this is certainly a religious experience for the French." (22/09/2007)

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