Gordon Brown is counting on a swift economic turnaround. It’s probably his Labour Party’s only hope of avoiding a humiliating electoral defeat to the Conservatives next year.

The latest news on the economy has certainly got people in Downing Street smiling. The housing market is stabilising and some commentators are even talking about Britain becoming the first major country to pull out of the recession.

Treasury forecasts of reasonable growth that were derided just two months ago suddenly don’t look so bad.

The Number 10 dream scenario is that the economy recovers strongly, Brown takes the credit and the polls turn in time for a May election.

But what happens if the economy does turn around by the end of the year and the polls don’t get any better?

If that happens, some party strategists are wondering whether that might be a good time for Brown to step down, say in January.

He could say he did what he set out to do — get Britain through the recession — and it was now time for a new face.

The honeymoon bounce could end up being Labour’s only hope.

“He might not  have been the easiest of allies, but an ally he has been.”

That’s the verdict of the Daily Telegraph in an editorial to mark President George W. Bush’s farewell tour of Europe.

Despite concerns over issues such as Iraq,  the economy and extradition treaties, Bush was “never disloyal or ungrateful”, the paper said.

He acknowledged Britain’s unparalleled support after the Sept. 11 attacks, the newspaper noted. And Bush backed Britain over Northern Ireland and the Israeli-Palestine roadmap, the paper said.

“A country, like a man, can have friends who are difficult. But sticking to them is the essence of friendship,” the paper said.

The Independent wasn’t quite so gracious.

It featured a cartoon of Bush, caricatured as a duck with a leg in plaster and carrying a crutch, greeting Gordon Brown, portrayed with a large beak and tail feathers. The pair are standing next to the bony corpse of the dove of peace under the caption “Rendezvous”.

Bush says to Brown: “The Dodo of Downing Street - Yo!.” Brown replies: “The Lame Duck of the Lone Star State, I presume?”

The tabloid Daily Mirror went further.

“Goodbye and good riddance,” it said in an editorial.

“He has been one of the worst presidents in American history,” it said. “His shameful legacy can be summed up in one word: Iraq.”

Some commentators suggest the historic “special relationship” between London and Washington has changed for good since the departure of Tony Blair.

One media report said diplomats have stopped using the phrase, preferring instead the term “close bilateral relationship”.

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has spoken of the need to “recalibrate” the relationship to make the two sides more equal.

With Bush leaving the White House soon, where do you see Anglo-U.S. relations heading?

The red and white flag of England will be flying above 10 Downing Street on Wednesday alongside the Union Flag to mark St George’s Day.

It will be the first time in recent history that the two flags will have flown above the Prime Minister’s official residence to commemorate England’s national day.

Other government departments are being encouraged to follow suit under constitutional reforms aiming “to give British people a stronger sense of what it means to be British”.

Whitehall will also for the first time be able to fly the national flags of Scotland and Wales on their buildings on St Andrew’s Day and St David’s Day.

The changes to protocol were introduced at the end of March, while restrictions on the number of days a year that government buildings could fly the Union Flag were lifted last year.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has even published detailed guidance on the arcane British rules of flag flying.

Only buildings with two poles can fly the flag of St George on Wednesday because the Union Flag takes precedence.

Single-masted establishments must stick to the Union banner.

Has the government gone flag-crazy? Is it really British to fly the flag?

Anyone who wants to spend money trying to commune with dead relatives has never had so much choice.

There’s a growing array of satellite TV channels, Web sites, phonelines and even psychic churches which offer the services of mediums.

 But from next month, spiritualists will have to abide by strict new consumer protection regulations that are designed to give clients greater safeguards.

Some spiritualists want the government to rethink their plans to replace the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951 with new rules.

They say it will lead to the bizarre situation where mediums will issue disclaimers before they get to work in an attempt to stay on the right side of the law.

Psychics may have to tell clients that their service is simply entertainment or a sort of scientific experiment which has no guarantee of success.

The Spiritual Workers Association fears sceptics may bring malicious prosecutions.

They say they shouldn’t be treated like other traders. They view their strong beliefs as more akin to a religion than commercial transactions.

But critics say it’s high time psychics faced tougher controls. The British Humanist Association says there were only a few successful prosecutions for fraud under the old laws.

Should healers, mediums and fortune-tellers be subject to the same consumer rules as other traders?