When Chancellor Schröder announced his intention to call an early election, he can hardly have envisaged the political chaos into which Germany was plunged yesterday. He had hoped for clarity. He reaped confusion. How, we are tempted to ask, could such an orderly nation create such disorder just by holding an election?

OK, so there has, so far, been no snowstorm inside a perspex box as there was in the days when the darling of British couture, Alexander McQueen, showed in his home country.

Mmmm. Did you hear? The... (pop one in, purse lips, assume pensive expression)... Boiled... (firm, confident, steady suck, eyes slightly narrowed)... Sweet... (still sucking)... Is... (still sucking)... Back!

It is understandable that Charles Kennedy should insist that the accent at this week's Liberal Democrats' party conference will be on celebration, following what he described as the best general election performance in more than 80 years. But no amount of optimistic gloss can conceal that tough decisions lie ahead.

Bit by bit, the elements of crisis in the West's relations with Iran over nuclear weapons are being pieced together. Not a week passes without some new and thoroughly ominous development.

We Brits have developed a tradition of being rather kind to those who live long enough to outlast most of their critics. First we put them in fashion, then out of fashion but finally - if they just hang on in there - they are acclaimed for transcending these categories entirely.

It is easy to explain Tony Blair's denunciation to Rupert Murdoch of the BBC's reporting of Hurricane Katrina as being "full of hatred of America ". Politician tells media mogul what he wants to hear - namely, anything derogatory about a public service rival to his commercial interests

The panic passed almost as soon as it had begun. Partly because of a national inability to see a queue without joining it and partly from precautionary self-interest, some petrol pumps briefly ran dry last week

Headache? Listless? Empty feeling at the core of your being? Yes, it is a hangover from the cricket; from the adrenalin, endorphins and possibly one or two added ingredients absorbed during last week's denouement of the Ashes thriller.

In an interview on Radio 4's Today programme yesterday, Tony Blair displayed a worryingly distorted perspective on two of the biggest issues of the day: Iraq and the threat posed by international terrorism.

Here's an intriguing headline if ever there was one: Mind reader expelled from the Magic Circle for "bad behaviour". What was the miscreant magician doing? Extracting the club treasurer's PIN number without his knowledge? Cheating in charades at the Christmas party? Nothing so fanciful, it seems.

The agenda for the 60th anniversary United Nations summit in New York was established long in advance. It was agreed that the focus would be on reforming the bureaucracy of the UN

Marc Quinn's sculpture of Alison Lapper, officially unveiled on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square, is now one of the most striking sights in London

The tide of violence in Iraq continues to rise. Yesterday, more than a hundred Iraqis died after a suicide car-bomb exploded in the north of Baghdad. It was the deadliest attack in the country since February

Shoppers beware. The Competition Commission has found that people are being charged astonishing rates of interest when using their retail store cards

They're back. As in the autumn of 2000, a motley collection of farmers, hauliers and aggrieved motorists is threatening to bring chaos to Britain's roads and forecourts

Recent events in New Orleans have distracted attention in Britain from the debate over how the police have reacted to the threat of suicide bombers in this country

In east Belfast, one of the most prominent businesses on the Albertbridge Road, a focal point of the weekend's loyalist rioting, is a large pawn shop offering "pay day loans". Its existence is testimony to the fact that this is run-down inner-city east Belfast, where many live on or near the breadline. Most of the recent violence has been in such districts. The connection between poverty and violence is unmistakeable, and so too is the link between both and paramilitary groups. These three scourges pose a composite threat to peace, stability and progress.

Tony Blair delivered his first speech on domestic politics since the summer break yesterday. His subject, appropriately enough, was the Government's city academy programme. Criticism of this ambitious scheme to turn around failing inner-city schools has been mounting for some months. The House of Commons Education Committee has branded such academies as "socially divisive". In the opinion of the former education secretary, Estelle Morris, they are a "distraction" from the task of delivering high standards. So it was timely yesterday for the Prime Minister to come to the defence of his Government's plan to build 200 academies by the end of the decade.

Kofi Annan's admission to feeling "concern" over the outcome of the World Summit at UN headquarters in New York almost certainly masks feelings closer to panic. With only days to go before Wednesday's opening ceremony, there is a danger that what has been, perhaps unwisely, billed as the biggest ever meeting of world leaders will end in a shambles.

They are far closer to us than many people realise. They make and use tools; they employ plants for self-medication. In a rich and complex social life, they clearly experience a range of emotions, including joy and grief. Even more strikingly, they show the beginnings of morality, in the way that excessive harassment of a subordinate by a dominant animal will evoke expression of unease by other group members. "The great apes," said the UN treaty signed to protect them at the weekend, after much effort by conservationists, "form a unique bridge linking humans to the natural world."

Japan's Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has displayed remarkable deftness in wriggling out of a tight situation to romp home in this weekend's general election.

Three years ago President Bush received a letter from the then Mayor of New Orleans pleading with him to reverse his position on global warming

One Conservative commentator observed sarcastically last week that Britain was a "gloriously-run country where everything works perfectly and the people are utterly contented" - to judge from the Prime Minister's absence from these shores for 33 out of 42 days counting up to next Friday. We disagree