Sarah throws Gordon a wife-line
Updated on 24 September 2008
Inside the morning meeting...
Gordon Brown and the Labour party remain the story of the day, although this morning the spotlight has moved to Ruth Kelly, transport minister, who has announced she is to resign.
Citing a desire to spend more time with her family, it raises questions about the government's ability to provide a women-friendly work place and a wider question about exactly where Gordon Brown stands in relation to women.
Someone points out the Kelly has always gone home at 6pm, hence her absence from our programme, which must imply some degree of work-life balance.
Someone else says that Brown's cabinet has fewer women than Blair's and that amongst those rejecting his leadership in a recent poll, at least 60 per cent were women, suggesting he has an image problem with female voters.
Perhaps this leads neatly in to explaining why Brown was introduced by his wife, Sarah Brown, ahead of yesterday's conference speech.
It would seem the press has given Sarah a much easier ride than Cherie Blair, but if this is because she has stayed out of the public eye until now, will that all change?
And how aware is the general public of her previous career as a high powered PR executive? And what role has she played behind the scenes so-far, in Brown's "kitchen cabinet"?
This could be the moment to have Mrs Brown on the show...
'What happens if the Entente cordiale stops being cordial?'
Other big news involves the French bid to buy British Energy, effectively putting a large part of Britain's nuclear power in the hands of the French government.
What happens if the Entente cordiale stops being cordial?
In financial news the US treasury secretary and Fed governor continue to make their case to the senate, Faisal Islam is in New York talking to the head of the World Bank and Bradford and Bingley shares hit junk status.
On the day Robert Mugabe attends the UN in New York claiming his country's troubles, we show a different side to the power-sharing agreement.
What does the new arrangement mean for justice in Zimbabwe? Must those targeted by Mugabe's Zanu-PF supporters simply turn the other cheek?
We will also be looking at a radiation scare at Manchester University, dating from 1908; Rothko at the Tate; the de Menezes inquest and Finland, as it holds a day of mourning after yesterday's shooting.
