The slow plane to Tokyo

Do we feel sorry for the hacks that are off to Japan with the Brown entourage to report on three days of talks with the G8.

Ben Brogan is certainly not happy

For this trip, Mr Brown is using the Boeing 767 that usually carries the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. The plane is operated by a company called MLW in Dallas. The journey will be longer than you might expect, because they have to stop in Novosibirsk to refuel for an hour and a half. There are no beds, and the seats barely recline. Which matters if, as Mr Brown has decreed, the delegation must fly all day, to arrive in time for breakfast in Japan. Just when they would be going to bed back home, they will be launching on a long day of meetings. Grim.

reminding everyone that

When Mr Brown took over last year one of the first things he did was scrap the plan agreed by Tony Blair to acquire a long-range jet capable of carrying future PMs and their entourage, or Her Majesty and her bunch

And Nick Robinson points out that

The carbon footprint's not looking too good...

To the main agenda and Gordon wants food prices at the top of the list along with a climate change agenda which will he believes lead to a lower dependence on oil.

Speaking before flying out he says

The world is suffering a triple challenge – higher fuel prices, higher food prices and a credit crunch. My message to the G8 will be that instead of sidelining climate change and the development agenda, the present economic crisis means that instead of relaxing our efforts we have got to accelerate them."This agenda is not just the key to the environment and reducing poverty but the key to our economic future as well."