Europe and the recession
Probably best Gordon Brown skips this morning's papers. They are full of stories about the "plunging pound" (almost parity with the euro and heading that way with the dollar), which some see as undermining his constant claim that Britain is better equipped to weather the recession than other major economies. His welfare reforms get a bashing from left and right and the sketch writers have a field day with 
Clearly the Germans don't buy that. as "tossing around billions", "crass Keynsianism" and "reckless" - and he's a socialist! But even left-wing Germans have an aversion to debt and a distaste for the massive "borrowing binge" on which Mr Brown has now embarked.
On today's Daily Politics we'll be talking Europe and the economy on the eve of another Brussels summit and looking at the divisions in Europe over how best to handle the recession, which is hitting all European economies. Downing Street this morning was quick to play down the Anglo-German row, pointing out that Germany had already introduced its own package of extra spending - which is true, but the Germans start from a balanced budget and plan to borrow nothing like as much as the British.
Downing Street also insisted that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is sympathetic to the British approach, which I must confess is news to me - everything I've heard out of Berlin is that she is closer to the Tory approach to coping with the recession. We hope to be live from Brussels. 
Also on today's programme we'll be talking knife crime. Police forces which have taken a tough new approach to fighting knife crime are . Ten forces in England and Wales have been taking part in the government's Tackling Knives Action Plan and they say they've experienced a 17% drop in cases of serious injury or death caused by knives. Some people are still questioning the statistics. We'll have the latest.
Tomorrow Manchester will know whether it's voted for or against the congestion charge. We'll be reporting from there and discussing the pros and cons.
And should MPs drink and legislate? Quentin Letts takes his breathalyser to Parliament.
Throughout today's programme we have Rachel Elnough, of Dragons Den fame. All that on the Daily Politics at Noon on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2.
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