For weeks the Conservatives have subjected Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer and likely next Prime Minister, to hard political pounding. An accompanying chorus of muttering has been heard on the Labour back benches, looking forward with dread rather than hope to his assuming the leadership of party and country in a few weeks' time. So far the desire of those MPs for a convincing rival candidate has failed to produce anyone willing to stand against Mr Brown. Just when his success seemed unstoppable, however, certain former senior civil servants added their solo voices to the clamour, calling in question whether he has the personal qualities necessary for the top job. And the polls have duly recorded a widening of the lead of the Conservatives over Labour, with antipathy to Mr Brown a crucial factor.

Yet in the middle of this drubbing he can get up in the House of Commons and barnstorm his way through his eleventh Budget speech, confirming his own record of outstanding economic management of the country's finances and bestowing tax-cutting and public-spending largesse in all directions. Lord Turnbull, who was his senior civil servant at the Treasury for four years, is reported to have said in some off-the-record remarks that Mr Brown handled other government ministers "with Stalinist ruthlessness" and treated them with contempt. There was certainly something ruthless about his Budget Day manner: he may not suffer fools gladly when they are his colleagues in Government, but he has no time at all for Tory politicians.

Another former civil servant, Sir Stephen Wall, has questioned publicly whether Mr Brown was the right person to succeed Tony Blair. What is clear, at least, is that his style as Prime Minister would be utterly different from that of his predecessor, and people in Government can expect bruised feelings and high-handed decision making. But that does not automatically make him a bad Prime Minister.

From now on Mr Brown is likely to ...

The Vatican's denunciation of certain works by the Jesuit theologian Jon Sobrino will be widely seen as a renewal of its campaign against liberation theology. He is one of its leading exponents. Nevertheless, the terms of the latest judgement differ significantly from previous actions against this theology in two respects. First, the grounds of disapproval, likely to seem somewhat arcane to secular commentators, ...

Planet Earth should in theory be capable of supporting life, including human life, for thousands of years to come - indeed, some estimates say millions. It all depends on the human race. Not long ago the greatest danger seemed to come from nuclear war between the superpowers. Now the major threat is environmental damage, particularly the heating up of the atmosphere owing  to the discharge into it of so-called ...

Cardinal William Levada, the new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has yet to gain a reputation as either a hard man or a soft man. But on the basis of one of the most wide-ranging interviews he has given since his appointment last year - he was formerly Archbishop of San Francisco - he is certainly entitled to credit as an open-minded one. If his words (reported on page 27) indicate a general ...

Almost the whole burden of preserving the Anglican Communion from schism now rests on the shoulders of the Episcopal Church in the United States. It has about seven months to decide whether to comply with a tough package of conditions drawn up by the Anglican primates in Tanzania this week. If they fail, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will refuse to invite their bishops to the next Lambeth Conference ...