Broon & Bust (evolution)

A winter blizzard of bankruptcies, job cuts and now wild cat strikes has brought Gordon Brown crashing back down in the opinion polls. After an initial ratings boost from his handling of the credit crunch, a wintry Britain is getting rapidly used to daily company closures and staff culls, while long booming house prices have plummeted even faster than the country's currency.



Brown claimed to have "saved the world" from economic meltdown in a slip of the tongue last month, while Harriet Harman, the deputy Labour leader, delightedly described him as "Superman".

This was at the height of the "Brown bounce", when Labour slashed the Conservatives' opinion poll lead thanks to the former chancellor's decisive leadership on the economic crisis.

But such grand claims have started to ring hollow as Brown's poll ratings plunge and whispers start among Labour MPs that things may be going wrong with his handling of the crisis.