BRAZIL

Day of atonement beckons as Ljungberg relishes European chance of a lifetime

TONY BLAIR offered to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats during secret talks six months after the general election it emerged yesterday, after details of the meeting, stolen from Paddy Ashdown's private diaries, were published.

CHARLES KENNEDY buried the hatchet with Simon Hughes yesterday by appointing his main rival for the Liberal Democrat leadership to the senior post he coveted.

`There are overtones of The Life of Brian - "What have the Romans ever done for us?" '

ROBIN COOK faced more criticism of his "ethical foreign policy" last night amid claims that the Government was preparing to help to fund a dam project in Turkey.

Strangely, the general rule that applies to sex is reversed when it comes to booze

BARONESS THATCHER sought to calm the storm over her comments that Britain should pull out of the European Union, dismissing them yesterday as "just dinner party tittle-tattle".

THE TORY party was accused last night of wanting to pull Britain out of the European Union after party chairman Michael Ancram appeared to back calls to "renegotiate" membership of the EU.

NO MORE Celebrity Countdown, then. The most immediate consequence of the election of Charles Kennedy to the leadership of the Liberal Democrats is to deprive the makers and viewers of daytime television's quiz shows of one of their more versatile and entertaining guests. It would be churlish to dwell on this, but Mr Kennedy's frequent appearances in the magic rectangle have paid him a substantial political premium: the "name recognition" they delivered amongst the party's so-called "armchair membership" will have had a lot to do with his victory in this election.

The Lib Dem leadership contest has been a dismal affair, doing little to excite even the party's members