In Politics Weekly I pick over these events with David Lammy, the Skills Minister, Jackie Ashley, the Guardian columnist, and David Hencke, the Guardian's Westminster Correspondent. We also hear from Simon Hoggart, the Guardian's Parliamentary sketchwriter, and from Will Woodward, the Guardian's Chief Political Correspondent.
We discuss whether Britain is heading for a recession and ask whether Gordon Brown's greatest strength - his handling of the economy - is about to become his greatest weakness. Northern Rock once again dominated Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons; Simon Hoggart relives the rowdy scenes for us.
Ken Livingstone has dominated Comment is Free this week after the Channel 4 Dispatches programme on his conduct as London mayor. We ask David Lammy, who is a London MP, whether he is worried about criticism that Livingstone runs London through a small clique of advisers.
Finally, we clamber aboard the Prime Minister's chartered British Airways Boeing 747, which took him on a whirlwind tour of China and India at the weekend, to debate whether it's worth splashing out so much money to fly the flag. OK we didn't make it inside the plane but we hear from Will Woodward who did have a seat on board.
