I am surprised that Prime Minister Brown is on holiday.

It is a wonder that British Premier Gordon Brown is taking a holiday and a good long one considering the pressure he puts himself under. Apparently, Lord Peter Mandelson has had a spell of bossing the UK from his holiday in Corfu. This entails "working the phones". I remember once there was a political flare-up during the holiday season and the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock had to make his views known through a poor phone connection. Nowadays, the media technology is much
better.
Let's hope we don't have the same Mandelson/Osborne media relations disaster of last year with a cast including the Russian oligarch Oleg Depriaska.
I take the view that the holidays should be a break for the politicians from cluttering our airwaves. There used to be a "silly season" during August but we are being made afraid by government announcements over swine flu and the possible use of tamiflu.