It's another setback for beleaguered British Prime Minister Gordon Brown: "The White House today attempted to shore up Gordon Brown's global image after it emerged that the US president, Barack Obama, turned down no fewer than five requests from Downing Street to hold a bilateral meeting at the United Nations in New York or at the G20 summit starting in Pittsburgh today."

A "senior administration official" took great pains to insist that there was no "snub" of Brown, but the Prime Minister, whose troubles are too numerous to mention, sustained even more damage back home with the revelation that, rather than holding a bilateral meeting with the president, he was "reduced to grabbing a 15-minute chat with the US president in the UN's kitchens." (How very In the Loop!) Still, those who worry about what it all means for The Special Relationship should have no fear: Obama is not de-emphasizing our ties with Britain, he just doesn't want to be seen hanging around with losers. It's why you're not gonna see him campaigning in New Jersey again unless Jon Corzine looks like he has a shot. Which he doesn't. Sorry, Gordon.