The government has decided to tighten the law on cannabis, reinstating it to a Class B drug, because of fears over the high-strength skunk variety now prevalent on the streets.

Cannabis was downgraded to Class C — which includes substances such as anabolic steroids — in 2004. That meant possession of the drug was treated largely as a non-arrestable offence. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommended it should stay as Class C.

Since 2004 there has been much debate on the dangers of repeated use of cannabis, the likelihood of its fostering psychotic behaviour and its role as a possible “gateway” to more dangerous drugs. 

Do you believe Gordon Brown is right in putting cannabis back in Class B? 

The ever increasing tax burden and Gordon Brown’s woes dominate the front pages today.

The Daily Telegraph reports research has shown that the average motorist is paying more than £600 a year extra in tax under Labour. Story here

The tax burden also makes front page news in the Daily Express which says Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been warned that he must stop tax rises or face defeat in the next election. Story here

The Daily Mail says price rises mean families have less to spend than for 17 years. Story here

Brown’s style of leadership and signs that support for him in his own party is waning also feature heavily on the front pages. The Times says more than half of Labour supporters believe that Brown should stand down to make way for a more electable politician. Story here

Brown also faces new threats to his authority over Scottish independence, 42-days detention and the 10p tax climbdown, The Guardian says. Story here

The Independent leads with the cyclone in Myanmar, saying the country’s military government is obstructing global aid efforts. Story here

The Sun also focuses on the Myanmar cyclone, the “Tide of Death” as it says. Story here

Labour has lost at least 200 seats in the local elections in England and Wales — leaving it in its worst position since the days of Harold Wilson — and even before the results of the London mayoral contest are known, some political analysts are saying Gordon Brown will lose the next general election unless the economy improves.

But others say this was a vote against Labour rather than a vote for the Conservatives and that governments, especially those that have been in power for as long as Labour, always take a knock in local elections. Look at Tony Blair in 2004 just a year before he swept home again.

The next general election doesn’t have to be called until 2010 and even a week is a long time in politics, they point out.

Do you think the writing is on the wall for Brown, or can Labour win a fourth term in the next general election?

**Full coverage of the London mayor and local elections **

The election results for England and Wales at 8:00 p.m. with all 159 councils having officially declared.

Source: BBC

The Times says Gordon Brown is facing the first electoral test of his premiership. It also features London mayoral candidates Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson. Story here

The Daily Mail leads with how motorists are being fleeced by speed cameras or traffic wardens to the annual sum of £800m. Story here

The Daily Mirror leads with an artists impression of what Elisabeth Fritzl might look like now at the age of 42. Story here

The Daily Telegraph says 150 hostels, intended to house offenders, have been built in residential areas across the UK with little or no consultation with locals. Story here

The search is on for the last Nazis accused of terrible war crimes, according to The Independent. Story here

The Daily Express says the cost of living for the average family has gone up by 11.5% in the past year (story here) and also features a picture on its front page of Josef Fritzl on a beach holiday while his children were locked in his cellar in Austria.

The Guardian says police will reject toughter action on cannabis possession when the drug is upgraded to class B. Story here

Conservative Leader David Cameron conceded this week he had broken his promise to end “Punch and Judy” politics in the House of Commons.

“I will absolutely hold up my hands and say this is a promise I have not been able to deliver,” he told BBC Radio’s Today Programme on Tuesday.

As if to prove his point, a day later Cameron accused Gordon Brown at Prime Minister’s Questions of political calculation over the 10p tax abolition and the proposed extension of pre-trial terrorism suspect detention to 42 days.

A day before local elections in England and Wales, Cameron said: “With 10p it was about trying to pose as a tax cutter. This time (on 42 days) its about trying to pose as being tough on terror.”

To uproar Cameron added: “He is putting political calculation and self interest ahead of the right decisions on the national interest.”

Brown retorted: “This is the man who wants to be both tough on crime and hug a hoodie at the same time.

“This is the man where political calculation meant he cycled to work but at the same time he had the chauffeur-driven car coming behind.

“This is the man who is a shallow salesman and never addresses the substance of the issue.”

The exchange of personal comments was too much for Liberal Democrat MP Julia Goldsworthy who told BBC television afterwards that the language used was “more suited to the playground.”

“This is the one opportunity a week to hold the prime minister to account, and I think a lot of the rowdiness is a sad reflection on the behaviour in the House of Commons.”

Pressure is growing on Gordon Brown to reshuffle his Cabinet after Thursday’s local elections to take some of the sting out of the drubbing his Labour Party is expected to get at the ballot box this week.

Press reports last week suggested Health Secretary Alan Johnson might be in for a promotion. But government sources show no sign that Brown is about to rearrange the decks just yet.

For a start, it’s not really clear a reshuffle now would sort out the government’s problems. Many of the current Cabinet have such little profile that changing their jobs would hardly excite the public imagination.

Also, the big jobs that might cause a stir are really locked down. Brown isn’t about to remove close ally Alistair Darling from the Treasury — it’d be tantamount to admitting the government bore some of the blame for the economy slowing down. The preferred line is to blame the global credit crunch.

Nor does David Miliband look as if he is going anywhere from the Foreign Office. It wouldn’t make political sense to give the young minister often talked about as a future leader of the Labour Party cause for grievance just when the prime minister’s authority is really under scrutiny.

But Brown still really does need what he calls a “diversion” from all the negative press he’s been getting. His popularity has slumped, the economy is slowing down as house prices fall and his backbenchers are no longer afraid of challenging him on the policy front.

So far his answer has been to say people will back him when they see he’s been taking the right long-term decisions. The economy, he says, will be his main focus.

The problem with that is this is exactly how people remembered him when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer for 10 years. As prime minister, he needs to connect better with voters who are looking for a reason to vote Labour again when the party has already been in office for more than a decade.

Brown doesn’t need to change his Cabinet now, he needs to change the way he communicates.

The crucial poll win in Pennsylvania by US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton came too late for many newspapers, who predominantly went instead with rising food prices and fears for a missing boy in Wednesday’s headlines.

THE INDEPENDENT: The Chilling Message From Zimbabwe’s Church Leaders

The paper runs a dramatic quote in red and black letters which says: “If nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that in Kenya and Rwanda.” Story here.

DAILY MIRROR: The Lost Boy

Fears were mounting for a vanished disabled boy whose devoted mother was found dead in woods near her home in Worcester. Story here.

DAILY MAIL: The Petrol “Profiteers”

Consumer groups accused petrol firms of profiteering after raising prices by up to 5p a litre in 48 hours, ahead of a planned strike at Grangemouth refinery, the paper said. Story here.

THE GUARDIAN: 1bln Pounds Package Would End Tax Row, Say Rebels

Frank Field, the architect of Labour’s 10p tax rebellion, said ministers must provide up to 1bln pounds in compensation for those affected by the changes before local elections next week, if they are to defuse the row, the paper said. But he insisted he did not want to bring the government to its knees. Story here.

DAILY EXPRESS: Shopping Bill Up 15 Pounds a Week

Soaring food costs are adding 15 pounds a week to supermarket shopping bills, research showed, in the latest hammer blow to hard-pressed family budgets, the paper said. Story here.

THE SUN: Wills Gets Chopper Out at Sandringham

The paper claims an exclusive on Prince William, who recently received his flying wings, taking another joyride in an RAF helicopter — this time over the Queen’s Sandringham home. The paper had earlier said he had landed a helicopter in the garden of his girlfriend. Story here.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: 800 Pounds-a-Year Rise in Family Grocery Bill

The paper used the same research on food prices to say families are having to spend almost 800 pounds more on their annual grocery bills as the highest rate of food inflation for a generation drives up supermarket prices. Story here.

THE TIMES: Era of Cheap Food Ends as Prices Surge

Experts warn the prices of basic foods will rise steeply again because of acute shortages in commodity markets, the paper said. Story here.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES: RBS Chief Faces Calls to Name Exit Date

Sir Fred Goodwin faces demands from leading investors to step down as chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland within a year after the bank launched a 12 bln pounds rights issue, the paper said. Story here.

Gordon Brown returns to Westminster today facing a host of negative headlines describing him as a ditherer who has failed to make his mark as prime minister.

The Telegraph reckons Brown’s “failure to define what he stands for is provoking despair even among his loyal supporters” and charts his evolution from a dominant figure in politics under Tony Blair to “Incapability Gordon Brown”.

While Foreign Secretary David Miliband asserts that Brown has “strong values and convictions”, bets are already on for who would be odds-on favourite to take over.

Brown’s cut in the basic tax rate, announced in the 2007 budget, was to be paid for, at least in part, by the abolition of the 10 percent tax rate, but the plan has now turned into a “calculated tax ploy that mutated into a monster”, according to the Independent.

The olive branch offered by Chancellor Alistair Darling to quell the rebellion has prompted outrage, the paper says. It quotes Frank Field, the former minister leading demands for a package of social help for the poorest earners, as saying the measures offered were insufficient. “The talk about bringing forward a package this year or maybe next year just will not do,” Field said.

“If the rebels prevail, Brown could be ousted in days” is The Guardian’s take on Brown’s woes. “For Labour to have scheduled the vote on the 10p tax rate days ahead of the local elections, and with London on a knife edge, seems an act of incompetence so breathtaking that I’m left wondering whether it’s a Baldrick-like cunning plan,” columnist Jackie Ashley writes.

But there is some caution against rushing into finding a new leader. Tribune’s Joan Smith draws parallels to hapless former Prime Minister Anthony Eden: “As the Tories discovered in 1955, some people are not temperamentally suited to the top job and that will almost certainly be posterity’s verdict on Gordon Brown,” she writes. “And while it’s amusing to watch all the people who used to talk up the PM-in-waiting as they scramble to explain their man’s failures, it does leave Labour with a very big problem” — who would be best to replace him?

The entente hasn’t been quite so cordiale for some time, judging by a ragbag of pointers in the newspapers over recent weeks.

Young French people are coming to live and work in London in record numbers, it seems, to the extent there’s now even an area named after them, in the manner of Little Italy or Kangaroo Valley. The fact that it’s rather rudely called Frog Alley should not diminish the importance of this significant milestone.

Going in the other direction, large numbers of Brits living in France have been standing in municipal elections — nay, encouraged to stand — in the areas where they have a significant presence. Welcomed with open arms, some of the reports said.

We’ve moved our Eurostar terminal from the unfortunately named Waterloo, so now French passengers don’t have to arrive to a smug display of British triumphalism, while President Sarkozy has been playing mood music about the importance of closer ties with the old enemy.

A recent poll even found that our national characters are converging. The French and the British were voted rudest and second-rudest people in Europe.

But how far can all this go? Have we been distant neighbours for too long or is it simply pie in the sky to think the British and the French will ever love each other?