Brown unveils £100bn trade deal
A £100 billion plan to create a single market between Europe and the United States will be unveiled this week as part of a government effort to show that having a close relationship with America is worth jobs and money.

Prescott in plea to Blair: End the feuding
John Prescott acted as an 'honest broker' to organise a peace deal between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as the simmering row between the two men threatened to derail the Government.
A duel in Downing St
Leader: Feud threatens to destroy Labour
Leader: Sin bins for all

Voting

At home

Beggars hit by crackdown
Aggressive beggars who intimidate people by hanging around bank cash machines demanding money are to be cleared off Britain's streets as part of a controversial new push against anti-social behaviour.
Galloway's aide quits
Amelia Hill: MP who could seal Tories' fate
David Blunkett: Prisons need real reform

Tony Blair

Blair vows: there's no turning back
· PM pushes for a full third term
· 'We must hold our nerve'
Party ready to turn on PM
What Labour's members really think
Tony's big adventure
'He could talk his way out of things'
'He even wanted to rehearse'
'He would sit by the pool and devour books'
'He's incredibly impatient'

Spin

Secret papers reveal crime rate fiddle
The Government was last night accused of a cynical attempt to manipulate the truth about crime after secret Home Office documents revealed a scheme to artificially 'boost' conviction rates.
Andrew Rawnsley: Tell that to the Marines

War: the home front

Are civil liberties at risk?
Yes, says leading trade unionist Bill Morris. Tighter security measures will make life even more difficult for refugees.

Are civil liberties at risk?
No, promises the Home Secretary David Blunkett. But the Government will protect lives from attack and safeguard our freedoms.

The tax and spend debate

NHS faces another winter of crisis
Britain's hospitals are facing a winter crisis similar to that of two years ago when the NHS came close to collapse, senior doctors have warned.
The Observer NHS debate

Next stop Utopia... but it'll cost us
It's time to put vision back into politics and for Labour to dare admit that a just society must be paid for with higher taxes, argues Matthew Taylor, head of No 10's favourite think tank.

Tax must rise by 4p, Blair told
Explosive think-tank warning as recession bites.

A dogma that fails the people
Leader: Labour's very public private disgrace.

They're making it up as they muddle along
Every time the Government launches yet another new strategy, it adds to the impression that it really has no strategy at all, says Andrew Rawnsley.

Comment and analysis

When New Labour grows old
Fortified by conference sandwiches and warm white wine, Guy Lodge and Jessica Asato take a look ahead to Bournemouth 2013.

Capita punishment
Nick Cohen: Why is the Government so devoted to a digital future when it plainly doesn't work?

Mr Straw, I presume
Tony Blair and his Foreign Secretary have Africa in their sights - but can wise words and hard cash cure the continent's ills, asks Kamal Ahmed.

Missionary Tony and his Holy British Empire
The sun may never set on President Blair's ambitions to conquer the planet, but one day he'll have to come back down to earth.

Second term: the debate starts here

Don't go working on Maggie's farm no more
Tony Blair says he has learned much from Mrs Thatcher's success. But now it's time to learn the biggest thing of all: why she failed.

New Labour is for U-turning
Andrew Rawnsley: From cannabis to student tuition fees, it's been a rare week since the election that the Government has not performed an about-face
Blunkett to scrap refugee vouchers
Asylum: myths and reality

And now Blair has to stand and deliver
Will Hutton: In five years' time Britain will be a better place. That's what the PM has promised, but it's going to be a tough job.

Little time to relax, Tony
Andrew Rawnsley on the dazzling - and daunting task for a Prime Minister who has only a couple of years to achieve a great deal.

What's the big idea?
What next for Labour? The Observer asked John Monks, Anthony Giddens, Linda Colley, Robert Reich, Linda Colley, Adair Turner, Ben Pimlott, Mary Riddell, Noreena Hertz, Mary Kaldor, Matthew Taylor, Richard Reeves, Ruth Lister, Mark Leonard, Julian Le Grand, Michael Jacobs, Tom Bentley and Madsen Pirie to define Labour's future challenges.
Go to it, Tony. And don't shirk the challenge that's overdue

Give us a public display of faith
Bill Morris: Labour's historic election victory is being heralded as a mandate for change. The British people have placed their trust in a government which has promised to revitalise our public services - especially our schools and hospitals.

Just a word of warning - and it's 'Railtrack'
Ken Livingstone: The re-election of Labour is, as many Labour politicians have said, not so much a second term as a second chance.

Europe: the big issue

At last, we can talk about Europe
Simon Buckby: After years of enjoying a free run on the open road, the anti-European bandwagon has ground to a halt.

The Euro debate: special report

Observer Politics: this week