"But he has won a lengthy protocol insisting that it cannot be used to challenge UK laws: in effect, it is another opt-out. IT MAY NOT BE LEGALLY ENFORCEABLE, for it discriminates in the application of fundamental rights."

A leading article in the Times questions "whether the language of the opt-out that the United Kingdom has secured from the charter of fundamental rights is robust enough to survive any legal challenge to it. On paper, the words seem to be ringing and this has led the CBI to offer a cautious welcome to what the Prime Minister has negotiated. THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE IS NOT, HOWEVER, A SHY AND RETIRING CREATURE NOR DOES IT TAKE KINDLY TO ATTEMPTS BY LEGISLATORS TO INHIBIT ITS AUTHORITY. Gordon Brown may need to ensure even more vigorous terms are imposed on the final treaty to make it acceptable".

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said, "People in Britain will want to know - when Irish voters will decide for themselves on this crucial treaty - why Gordon Brown thinks they do not have the right to their say, even though he promised they would."

Leading articles in the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Express, Mail on Sunday, Telegraph, and the News of the World call on Gordon Brown to hold a referendum on the revised Constitutional Treaty. A leader in the Times argues that "a referendum is almost inevitable". Leaders in the Mirror, Guardian and FT all come out against a referendum.

In the Sunday Times former Foreign Secretary Lord Owen has an article titled "we must have a referendum on this treaty". He argues that Tony Blair has had "Six different positions on a referendum in four years. Is it any wonder that disillusion and cynicism have grown in British politics?" He goes on to argue that the Labour party must honour its manifesto commitment to hold a referendum: "It is no good Brown talking about a new form of politics, listening to people and strengthening parliamentary democracy if a manifesto commitment can be torn up in front of people's eyes." In the Express Leo McKinstry demands that "the British public must be given the final say. Any deal must be subject to a referendum. We are, after all, supposed to be living in a democracy."

In the Independent on Sunday Harvard Professor Glyn Morgan criticised Tony Blair for being "undemocratic" for refusing to hold a referendum. He said, "Britain needs a wide-ranging rational debate on its place in Europe; and it needs a referendum to ensure that this debate engages the bulk of the electorate. There is no good reason to believe, whatever current polls might suggest, that the Eurosceptics will win this debate."

In the Times Bronwen Maddox writes, "The 'red lines' that [Blair] defended are scuffed and blurred; it remains to be seen exactly what Britain has secured, and that may emerge only after expensive and unpredictable court cases."

The guarantee Blair had written into the new treaty was a "declaration" and not a "protocol".

A FOREIGN OFFICE AIDE SAID, "THERE IS A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DECLARATION AND A PROTOCOL. EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE TREATY IS A PROTOCOL, BUT THIS IS JUST A DECLARATION.

T IS A WORTHLESS PROMISE AND NOT LEGALLY BINDING. BRUSSELS WILL GRADUALLY EXPAND ITS ROLE IN SECURITY, DEFENCE AND FOREIGN POLICY"

He maintained that Gordon Brown, officially confirmed as the new Labour leader on Sunday (24 June) and set to take over as a new UK prime minister this Wednesday, has "absolutely no democratic mandate to introduce these major changes without letting the British people have the final decision in a referendum."

Although there were reports of allegedly angry telephone conversations between Mr Blair and Mr Brown during the summit over the French president's demand to scrap a clause on competition from the list of the bloc's objectives, Mr Brown praised the deal and rejected the opposition calls.

"Like every other treaty that has been negotiated - Nice, Amsterdam, Maastricht - while many other people will call for a referendum, it seems to me that we have met our negotiating position," he told BBC.

A new international role for Blair?

Meanwhile, a new international role for the outgoing British prime minister as a Middle East mediator is expected to be confirmed this week, according to several media reports. The idea is reportedly strongly backed by US president George W. Bush, with some European leaders as well as the European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso also expressing their support at last week's summit, according to the International Herald Tribune.

The nomination is to be hammered out on Tuesday (26 June) in Jerusalem, at a meeting of diplomats representing the Quartet on Middle East peace process - the US, EU, UN and Russia - the Financial Times reported.

The new French President said he had managed to dilute the EU's commitment to free-market economic policies in a European "mini-treaty", claiming at a pre-dawn press conference that he had struck a blow against the "dogma" of competition. This was presented by his allies as a defeat for Tony Blair and his incoming successor, Gordon Brown.

The PM made a final plea to the British people to recognise that Europe had changed. "There is a fantastic opportunity for this country today," he said. "We have a Commission President who is a reformer, we have got an enlarged EU with real allies for Britain now, we have got a German Chancellor and French President in favour of the transatlantic alliance.

Mr Blair insisted the watering down of the proposed EU constitution meant that there was no need to hold a referendum in Britain. But William Hague, the shadow Foreign Secretary, claimed large parts of the constitution had been "repackaged" in the new treaty and called for a referendum. He said: "Blair and Brown have signed up to major shifts of power from Britain to the EU and major changes in the way the EU works."

The treaty, due to be signed by the end of this year and take effect in 2009, will create a new post of President of Europe; a High Representative on Foreign Policy; a single legal identity for the EU; and will extend majority voting.

While Blair left Brussels insisting he had preserved Britain's control over its foreign policy, the small print of the treaty prepares the way for a powerful new EU diplomatic service with ambassadors worldwide.

They will report to a "high representative" who will be vice-president of the European commission and will chair meetings of EU foreign ministers.

The treaty commits the EU to a "common foreign and security policy". Member states must support the policy "actively and unreservedly, in the spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity". They are barred from taking any action - such as launching military strikes or declaring war - that could damage the EU's standing.

Downing Street said an annex to the treaty ensured it would not affect foreign policy. But opposition politicians said the annex was a "declaration" rather than a legally binding "protocol". They demanded the treaty be put to a referendum.

To cries of horror - and some quiet chortles - Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski invoked Nazi atrocities in order to cut Germany down to size.

Tony Blair may only occasionally feel the hand of history on his shoulder, but its constant weight has shaped Poland's "terrible" twins. Unable to forget their father's heroic resistance in the sewers of Warsaw in 1944 when the SS razed the city as the Russians looked on approvingly, they despise both nations. "They see the Germans as untrustworthy pigs and the Russians as worse," said one analyst.

So Jaroslaw, the prime minister and elder twin by 45 minutes, had no hesitation in invoking the "incomprehensible crimes" against Poland as a means of raising the stakes in its battle with Germany over voting rights. This had become an obstacle to agreeing a revamped EU treaty. "If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45, Poland would today be looking at the demographics of a country of 66m," he said on Polish radio in an implicit reference to his country's 6m war dead.

His point was that whereas the EU voting system currently gives Poland disproportionate clout, proposed changes based on population size would give most benefit to Germany's 82m people while Poland with 38m people could be steamrollered - despite being the largest of the 10 countries that joined the enlarged club in 2004.

The 58-year-old Kaczynski twins had kept the summit guessing about which would turn up - some thought this a bit academic since they are nearly identical, though Jaroslaw plays the Mr Nasty to Lech's Mr Nice. "Both are small, not very bright, mean-minded and resemble provincial solicitors - which Lech used to be," said a journalist who has met them.

Their indecision may have been due to an intense domestic embarrassment suffered by Lech. The president, a scourge of former communists and a militant Catholic given to moralistic pronouncements, was shocked to discover that his married daughter Marta had become pregnant after running off with the son of a communist informer.

Time is not on the twins' side. Poland's migrant workers in the EU are absorbing western ways and liberal ideas that are at odds with Poland's past. The young are growing impatien"We have the EU, we have the internet, we are confident," said a market researcher in Warsaw. "Poles want jobs and better pay, but the Kaczynskis are busy fighting condoms and secret agents."

HE SAID, "WHAT DOES IT MATTER WHAT WE CALL HIM?" A Spanish diplomat said: "If your name is Maria, you can call yourself Jane, but you will still do Maria's job." A Spanish diplomat said: "We have exactly what we wanted. The foreign minister will have the political clout necessary to do his job and will control the administrative services too. Blair was worried about this, but over lunch he calmed down."

The Anglican Church of Canada is holding its General Synod in Winnipeg and is deciding whether to bless the unions of same-sex couples. The decision could ultimately lead to a split from the worldwide church. Some of the more conservative Anglican churches have already threatened the U.S. church with expulsion over its blessings of same- sex couples.

A blessing is intended for a couple who have united in a civil ceremony or some other union and is not the same as a marriage. The debate comes the day after delegates voted in Fred Hiltz from Atlantic Canada as the new head of Canada's Anglicans.

On the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, we revisit the appallingly repressive atmosphere of the Fifties and Sixties that ruined lives, destroyed reputations and finally sparked a campaign for change

A 40-year journey from shame to pride

1967 Sexual Offences Act in England and Wales decriminalises homosexual acts between two men over 21 years and in private. Scotland legalises it in 1980; Northern Ireland in 1982.

1971 First ever gay march in London, finishing with a rally in Trafalgar Square.

1976 Tom Robinson releases 'Glad to be Gay', which reaches No 18 in the singles chart.

1979 First ever gay television series Gay Life commissioned by LWT.

1982 UK's first HIV/Aids charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust launched.

1983 Labour Party candidate Peter Tatchell defeated in Bermondsey by-election after anti-gay campaign by tabloid press and local Liberals.

1984 Chris Smith, the UK's first openly gay MP, comes out while in office.

1988 Section 28, preventing the 'promotion' of homosexuality, introduced as part of the Local Government Act on 24 May.

1992 London hosts the first international Europride festival with a crowd of 100,000.

1994 Age of consent lowered to 18 from 21, despite unsuccessful campaign to lower it to 16, the consensual age for heterosexuals.

1998 Waheed Alli, one of the world's few openly gay Muslims, becomes the youngest and first openly gay life peer in Parliament.

2000 Government lifts ban on lesbian and gay men in the armed forces.

2001 Age of consent lowered to 16.

2003 Section 28 successfully repealed on 18 November.

2005 First civil partnerships take place.

"Any one of these authorities can bring about a deterioration in the situation this summer," Yadlin said. He added that while none of these actors want to initiate a conflict with Israel in the short-term, a miscalculation by any of them could force a confrontation.

On Monday Olmert will travel to Sharm e-Sheikh to meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman is expected to be among the minority of ministers to vote against measures to boost Abbas. The new Fatah-led government has "no intention...of arresting a single terror operative," he told Army Radio.

"Why should we believe all these lies? We have years of experience with Abu Mazen," Lieberman said, referring to Abbas. "Other than pronouncements, we haven't seen anything from him."

Speaking over the weekend, Lieberman said: "Even if we give Abbas F-16s he still has no chance to succeed against Hamas. It has already been proven that giving weapons and money to Fatah goes toward strengthening terror and not toward fighting it."

The cabinet will also discuss policy toward the new Palestinian government and ways Israel can strengthen Abbas following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip two weeks ago.

The charity Epilepsy Action says that those with the condition are complaining of dizziness, loss of focus and discomfort after being exposed to light from the energy-saving bulbs. The cause of the problem is not known as the bulbs do not flicker at the rate that would normally cause ill-effects.

But the issue has become prominent because of EU plans to phase out all traditional bulbs within two years and replace them with low-energy versions. Almost half a million people in the UK suffer from epilepsy and the Government has acknowledged there may be a problem.

Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox last night called on the Government to investigate the health effects and devise a policy that will enable sufferers to acquire these bulbs without ill-effects. In March, Tony Blair and fellow EU leaders agreed to phase out old-fashioned bulbs in private homes by 2009 to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. It is likely there will be a ban on the sale of the older bulbs.

Dr Arnold Wilkins, a professor of psychology at Essex University, came up with one possible explanation. He said: 'The new lights have an uneven spectral distribution. The white light is made up of a red and blue peak, rather than all wavelengths. That may make it difficult to see differences between colours and might affect people.'

There have also been complaints of discomfort from people with lupus.

The price of cereals in this country has jumped by 12 per cent in the past year. And the cost of milk on the global market has leapt by nearly 60 per cent. In short we may be reaching the end of cheap food.
For those of us who have grown up in post-war Britain food prices have gone only one way, and that is down. Sixty years ago an average British family spent more than one-third of its income on food. Today, that figure has dropped to one-tenth. But for the first time in generations agricultural commodity prices are surging with what analysts warn will be unpredictable consequences.

On the one hand the growing affluence of millions of people in China and India is creating a surge in demand for food - the rising populations are not content with their parents' diet and demand more meat. On the other, is the use of food crops as a source of energy in place of oil, the so-called bio-fuels boom. As these two forces combine they are setting off warning bells around the world.

Rice prices are climbing worldwide. Butter prices in Europe have spiked by 40 per cent in the past year. Wheat futures are trading at their highest level for a decade. Global soybean prices have risen by a half. Pork prices in China are up 20 per cent on last year and the food price index in India was up by 11 per cent year on year. In Mexico there have been riots in response to a 60 per cent rise in the cost of tortillas.

Then there is corn. While relatively little corn is eaten directly it is of pivotal importance to the food economy as so much of it is consumed indirectly. The milk, eggs, cheese, butter, chicken, beef, ice cream and yoghurt in the average fridge is all produced using corn and the price of every one of these is influenced by the price of corn. In effect, our fridges are full of corn. In the past 12 months the global corn price has doubled.

Ethanol is almost universally popular with politicians as it allows them to tell voters to keep on motoring, while bio-fuels will fix the problem of harmful greenhouse gas emissions. But bio-fuels are not a green panacea, as the influential economist Lester Brown from the Earth Policy Institute explained in a briefing to the US Senate last week. He said: "The stage is now set for direct competition for grain between the 800 million people who own automobiles, and the world's 2 billion poorest people."

Already there are signs that the food economy is merging with the fuel economy. The ethanol boom has seen sugar prices track oil prices and now the same is set to happen with grain, Mr Brown argues. "As the price of oil climbs so will the price of food," he says. "If oil jumps from $60 a barrel to $80, you can bet that your supermarket bills will also go up."

Anger boiled over this week as Jean Ziegler, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, accused the US and EU of "total hypocrisy" for promoting ethanol production in order to reduce their dependence on imported oil. He said producing ethanol instead of food would condemn hundreds of thousands of people to death from hunger.

During a 25-minute face-to-face audience in the Pontiff's private apartments, Pope Benedict XVI tackled Mr Blair on the continuing crisis in Iraq and the Middle East. Italian news agency reports said Pope Benedict also made direct criticism of New Labour laws allowing greater stem cell research on human embryos, easy access to abortion, same-sex marriages, and adoption by gay couples.

Friction even seemed to emerge as the Pope and Prime Minister appeared in public for the cameras. Mr Blair, joined by his wife Cherie, presented Benedict with a framed set of three antique pictures of Cardinal Newman, who converted in 1845 after more than 20 years in the Church of England clergy and is now a candidate for sainthood.

Mrs Blair said: "I believe you are very familiar with him and he is on the journey to sainthood." To which the Pope responded: "Yes, yes, although it is taking some time - miracles are hard to come by in Britain." The gift was seen as a highly significant indication of Mr Blair's wish to convert to the Catholic faith.

After the meeting, the Pope's office issued a strongly worded statement, saying the two men had a 'frank discussion on the international situation, in particular the delicate question of the Middle East conflict'. The actual wording of the communique contained the Italian phrase 'franco confronto', literally translated as 'frank confrontation' - inflammatory language seen as highly unusual in Rome. It then commended Mr Blair's 'vivid desire to involve himself in particular for peace in the Middle East and for inter-religious dialogue'.

But the statement was seen as indicating the Vatican's continuing unease with the Iraq conflict, and also recent domestic legislation in Britain. In the language of diplomatic communiquÇs, 'frank discussion' is customarily seen as code for an argument. The statement was all the more surprising because the Vatican always uses carefully controlled language.

At the end of Mr Blair's audience with the Pope, Cardinal Murphy O"Connor was invited in and the three had a ten-minute discussion. Father Georg Ganswein, the Pope's personal secretary, said they had a 'meeting of six eyes' - a significant Italian phrase which means deeply personal and private. A senior Vatican source added: "The fact that Cardinal Cormac was invited in at the end is highly unusual.

"It is not customary at all for church figures from the invited party's home nation to be present at an audience."
Again this was seen as a sign that Mr Blair was looking for the Catholic Church's approval of his future path - which, as well as conversion, includes setting up an interfaith religious foundation. Mr Blair hopes that this will play a role in brokering peace in the crisis-torn Middle East.

Kuwait broke the dinar-dollar peg only when it became too painfully expensive to keep it. The steady decline of the U.S. dollar, which hit a record low against the euro in April, meant that the dinar fell gradually but steadily in price, too. That left Kuwait facing rising prices for everything it imports.

Not exactly a small problem for a country that imports almost everything. For example, only 1% of Kuwait is arable, so the country imports all its food except for fish and shrimp. Kuwait even imports much of its drinking water: 75% of the drinking water used by the population is either distilled from seawater or imported.

This all leaves the U.S. dollar in a very uncomfortable position. On the one hand, we are seeing a gradual move away from the dollar by the world's central banks in favour of baskets of currencies. This puts gradual downward pressure on the price of the dollar and leads to a gradual increase in U.S. inflation and U.S. interest rates, as well as a gradual decline in relative U.S. standards of living and U.S. financial market performance.

As in Kuwait, where such a move resulted in a 25% shift away from the U.S. dollar in favour of other currencies, I don't think the result is a stampede out of the U.S. dollar. The dollar balloon isn't about to burst. But we are witnessing the air gradually leak out of the currency.

I think this reflects global fundamentals. The U.S. economy is less dominant in the global economy today, with the rise of China, India and the European Union, than it was in, say, 1980. The size of the U.S. trade deficit also argues for a gradual depreciation of the dollar in order to bring global trade flows closer into balance.

This system as a whole relies upon a touching faith that enough countries will play by the rules of the market, so that the market will continue to function with rules that can be exploited as national self-interest dictates.