Is the G20 going to turn into a damp squid?

As usual,Steve Richards asks some searching questions in this morning's Independent on the consequences for Gordon Brown if next weeks G20 turns into a damp squid.

The build-up to next week's G20 in London has echoes of the excitement about the early election in the autumn of 2007. Famously the election never happened, although the prospect of one was talked up foolishly by Gordon Brown's allies. In a similar fashion two weeks ago Mr Brown was hailing "a grand bargain, a global deal" as he looked ahead to next week's international gathering. Now the bargain looks a little less grand and not altogether global. Like the election, the grand bargain is postponed.

The case for fiscal stimulus is unravelling by the day and as Steve says

An increasingly independent and therefore more impressive Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is battling it out with the reckless Prime Minister. He got the support of a brave Mervyn King. At the same time international co-operation is blocked by those wise Europeans who, like the Conservatives here, are against a fiscal stimulus.