Sarah Palin is the queen of misinformation, delivered with faux folksiness as authentic as a three-dollar bill, says Martin Samuel. She is not the pitbull in lipstick of popular myth; she is Deputy Dawg with a forked tongue, engaged in a war against intelligence. Those falling for this act are her collateral damage. Barack Obama did not pal around with terrorists. He did not vote to increase the tax burden on families making $42,000 a year, or vote 94 times to increase taxes. Palin's statements on these subjects are not a reality bulletin from Main Street, Wasilla. Palin's statements are lies. Madeline Albright did not speak of a place in Hell reserved for women who do not support other women. Palin misquoted her. Albright said help, not support. And there is no such place as Hell. Martin Samuel The Times
Full article: Shallow, fake... Sarah Palin is beyond parody
Should Republicans 'flip the ticket' and go with Palin for President?
Alexander Cockburn: Palin could be the new Reagan

Alistair Darling is now not even bothering to disguise his view that it is time for the Bank of England to cut interest rates, writes Larry Elliott, and if it doesn't ease policy by half a point this Thursday there will be demands for the chancellor to run monetary policy himself. Rightly so. The only thing that matters in wartime is winning the war. Britain is not alone in suffering from a lack of policy co-ordination; the fact that Angela Merkel announced Germany's go-it-alone guarantee for savers, just hours after Nicolas Sarkozy's summit ended with a declaration of European unity of purpose, is indicative of a wider malaise. Finance has gone global but governance has not. Larry Elliott The Guardian
Full article: Get ahead of the game
The danger of a banker with a power complex

When the Chancellor of the Exchequer entered politics more than 30 years ago he stood on the far left of British politics, reportedly with allies in the Militant Tendency whose explicit long-term objective was the destruction of the capitalist system, writes Peter Oborne. The young leftist Alistair Darling has succeeded far beyond his wildest dreams. Capitalism really is in the intensive care unit. The most important immediate decision facing Alistair Darling, who to his credit has remained remarkably calm during the crisis, is whether to react by nationalising the banking system. Today he and his advisers are facing up to the unpalatable truth that many, perhaps the majority, of British banks are almost certainly now insolvent. On top of this, some of our biggest High Street names face the prospect of closure within days without government help. Peter Oborne Daily Mail
Full article: One by one our sick banks are being nationalised. But is this cure worse than the disease?
The Business Pages: Fed lowers borrowing costs

Some banks will need a cash hand-out from the government - which should be done only in exchange for the public taking preferred shares in them, says a Guardian leader. This is similar to how Sweden managed its banking crisis in the 1990s, and that was among the lowest-cost and most successful banking rescues ever. The British taxpayer is unlikely to get off lightly, but the principle of giving public money only for part-nationalisation is a more attractive one than anything in the Wall Street bail-out of last week. Going by the Dow's performance last night, the Bush administration's lifeline does not seem to be allaying any fears. Leader The Guardian
Full article: Time for action

Self-evidently, in a healthy society the brightest young minds should be heading for those parts of the economy that are truly first order, says Paul Collier. In Germany the brightest and best have been attracted to critical sectors such as the railways, which is why they function so brilliantly. In Britain the brightest and best have been attracted to the banks, which is why they so brilliantly looted our wealth. Meanwhile, with talentless management our real economy has lurched from failure to failure: from major cock-ups such as the opening of Heathrow's Terminal Five, to trivial such as the three hours taken by my train yesterday from Oxford to London. Paul Collier The Guardian
Full article: A chance to crack down on Africa's loot-seeking elites

Dying is more homework than I was counting on, writes PJ O'Rourke. Also, it kind of messes up my vacation planning. Can we talk after class? Maybe if I did something for extra credit? Why can't death - if we must have it - be always glorious, as in The Iliad? Of course death continues to be so, sometimes, with heroes in Fallujah and Kandahar. But nowadays, death more often comes drooling on the toilet seat in the nursing home, or bleeding under the crushed roof of a teen-driven SUV, or breathless in a deluxe hotel suite filled with empty drug bottles and a minor public figure whose celebrity expiration date has passed. I have, of all the inglorious things, a malignant haemorrhoid. What colour bracelet does one wear for that? And what slogan is apropos? PJ O’Rourke The Guardian
Full article: Death’s homework