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Occupation
BBC 1

Psychoville
BBC 2

Much as it galls me ever to agree with anyone, there’s no way to avoid adding my voice to the chorus of critical approval for Occupation. This three-part BBC drama shown on consecutive nights was everything claimed for it – meaty, intelligent, emotionally engaging, credible and courageous.

The Prime Minister may not be perfect, but there’s only one choice to make, argues Kevin Meagher

It isn’t over. The reshuffle, the plots and counter-plots; all of it is driven by fear, and that fear is not going to go away. Two forces are in play: Gordon Brown’s terror of being driven from office, and the anxiety of Labour MPs and activists that his premiership is destroying the party. On Monday night, MPs dragged themselves to a long meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party where Brown appeared contrite and fear held back some MPs and ministers who privately want him to go. In recent weeks, they have been battered by an unprecedented wave of public hatred over their expenses, electoral losses and the election of two British National Party candidates to the European Parliament.

THE masters of the universe – those of them who had the nerve to turn up – were mired in deep gloom at Davos in the Swiss Alps last week. Come April in the Watford Gap, representatives of the G20 group of nations may well feel suicidal as the social and economic consequences of the financial disaster deepens and widens. Economist Nouriel Roubini – previously dubbed “Dr Doom” when he predicted the catastrophe and who has now been entirely vindicated – forecasts that 2009 will be a painful year of global recession and further financial stress, losses and bankruptcies.

THE group of conspirators who caused the major implosion in Wall Street damaged the economy more than Osama bin Laden and al Qaida did when they caused an explosion in the same district. In the latter case, the United States went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, pledged to root out terrorism. In this latest incident, the US government has rushed to give the conspirators $1 trillion as a down payment so they can return and do it all over again.