Those close to No 10 also hope an Obama presidency would reinvigorate Brown's premiership, though not with borrowed stardust, writes Mary Riddell. Both are talkers, not bombers. Both want troops out of Iraq; neither wants to attack Iran. From helping counter global poverty to forging a post-oil era, Brown can see joint breakthroughs. "There is a real chemistry between them," one aide says. Well, ho hum. Obama's the sensation, on whom all dreams can be pinned. Brown's the beleaguered defender of what many New Labourites see as a divine right to govern, however incompetently. Some team. But read Brown's speech this week to the Israeli Knesset, for which he got a standing ovation. Heartfelt and statesmanlike, it's better than many Obama orations and in a different league from Blair's tremulous outpourings. Mary Riddell Daily Telegraph
Full article: Brown does not deserve too damning an end-of-term report
Full text of Brown's Knesset speech

Hanging Saddam proved of some satisfaction to the Shia of Iraq, says Adrian Hamilton. To the Sunni, on the other hand, it looked merely vengeful, while to many ordinary Iraqis it felt uncomfortably like the humiliation of a man who was, after all, the country's leader, at the behest of an occupying army. The Serbs feel exactly the same about Milosevic and Karadzic – and Mladic. It's not as though trials have proved that purgative to the people. Anyone visiting Cambodia must be struck not just by the lack of retributive justice – the trials have only just begun of the last living perpetrators – but by the lack of will among even the victims for show trials. It is as if the society has been so traumatised that justice no longer has any meaning, or value to them. Adrian Hamilton The Independent
Full article: Ultimately, this is as much about politics as justice
Captured: one of the world's most wanted

The shouts of outrage at the desperate situation of the world's poorest appear to have quietened to a whisper. Take the goal to reduce infant mortality by two thirds: at present rates this will not be achieved by 2015, or even 2030, but by 2050. The effort involved in getting donor governments not to bypass indigenous faith communities for the sake of mega-grants direct to UN agencies is unnecessarily difficult. This is our experience, although the World Health Organisation suggests that 40 per cent of healthcare in developing countries is provided by faith-based organisations; and in countries such as Burundi, about 80 per cent of basic education is provided by church schools. John Sentamu The Times
Full article: Once again we must cry out for the poor

If you want to get tough on bogus asylum seekers then the current system is failing you, writes Julian Baggini. Even conservative estimates put the number of refused asylum seekers living in this country at between a quarter and half a million. But if you want to be kind, the system is even more of a disaster. People are still being removed to manifestly unsafe places and thousands of refused asylum seekers are living destitute, with no access to work or benefits. Funnily, both xenophobes and bleeding hearts actually agree on rather a lot. Experience suggests that the best way to return people to their countries of origin is to provide voluntary means for them to do so. Forcing return may sound tough, but it just doesn't work. Nor can people contribute to society if they are denied the right to work. Julian Baggini The Guardian
Full article: Consensus of hard and soft