The question of whether to join the euro has so completely disappeared from political discourse in the UK that it is a struggle to recall how live an issue it was just 10 years ago.

Enigmatic and audacious, acerbic, unconventional and often very charming, Fred Newman, the co-creator and managing director of the UK trade paper Publishing News and the British Book Awards, has died of cancer at the age of 76.

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, has not ruled out standing for Labour's leadership if Gordon Brown is forced to stand down.

Gordon Brown today faces possibly the toughest test of his political life as he faces Labour MPs and activists with a speech intended to persuade them that he should remain as party leader and Prime Minister.

Announcement will form centrepiece of Brown's crucial conference speech

For struggling leaders, conference season is a perilous time. By Ben Russell

It's not a question of looks, nor even of technique: for a colourful few, seduction just seems to be something that comes naturally . . .

The South African President had the unusual duty yesterday of mourning the death of the President of Zambia with a minute's silence, then hours later wising him a speedy recovery.

Famed for the annual royal rowing regatta, ladies in large hats and Pimm's, Henley marked a new low for Labour under Gordon Brown when the party was beaten into a humiliating fifth place in the by-election.

As can be judged from the exclusive interview on these pages, it has not taken long for Boris Johnson to get his feet under the 2012 Olympic table – and start thumping it, which could put him on a collision course with Games planners and the Government. When the new mayor chaired his first meeting of the Olympic Board last week he made it clear there will be a tightening of belts and purse strings, indicating that some planning had been "pretty unrealistic and would have cost taxpayers a lot of money". Closer to home he is reducing the number of City Hall delegates travelling to Beijing, and like himself they will be flying economy. He is also scrapping plans for 18 Gordon Ramsay-trained chefs to provide gourmet catering at 2012's Beijing hospitality base, London House. Johnson is setting up a unit of business experts to help make the Games cost-effective. The Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross has already been brought in to keep an eye on the costs, and we hear that Lord Michael Heseltine, aka "Tarzan", Johnson's predecessor as Tory MP for Henley, is favoured to play akey role on this new Games watchdog body.

For much of the campaign, Boris Johnson gave little indication of a desire to win or of a true vision if he did. By Brian Brady and Jane Merrick

Looking through a glass, darkly

When the Conservative government declared their colliery 'unviable' in 1994, the miners invested their redundancy money in keeping their workplace and community alive. Tony Heath reports on their triumph

She was only in it for the money. She humiliated a great man. She let down fans everywhere... just like Linda, Yoko, Jane, Cynthia, Patti and Maureen. The curse of the Beatles' women