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Goodbye, Gordon The outgoing prime minister had one enemy more powerful than all the others: his own personality. By  William Underhill  |  Newsweek Web Exclusive  May 10, 2010 With the right spin doctor, Gordon Brown could seem an easy politician to admire. This was the smart, serious-minded Scot who took prudence as his watchword in his successful management of the British economy; the man who oversaw the country's longest period of economic growth and averted global catastrophe through his handling of the financial crisis. He was the clergyman's son who thrived on hard work and liked to talk of the "moral compass" offered by his parents' example. But he was always hard leader to like. Insider accounts speak of a prime minister who was thin-skinned, tantrumprone, and woefully short on the charisma that endeared the public to Tony Blair, his predecessor as prime minister. One leading civil servant spoke of Brown's "Stalinist" management style. His ...

Pick out the rock stars Flea (2R) and Anthony Kiedis (2L) of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, attend Game Two of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz at Staples Center on May 4, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Coach Jack is back Actor Jack Nicholson reacts in the second quarter as he sits courtside during Game Two of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz at Staples Center on May 4, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Leo like L.A. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio sits courtside during Game Five of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder at Staples Center on April 27, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

MONDAY The News  Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the most important — and most reluctant — partner in trying to help Greece forestall a financial meltdown, agreed to lend it up to $30 billion over three years, part of an international bailout package negotiated over the weekend. The European Central Bank said it would accept Greek bonds as collateral regardless of any credit downgrades. Behind the News  The moves cleared up some lingering uncertainty over the bailout and relieved some of the upward pressure on the interest rates Greece had to pay. TUESDAY The News  Public employees began striking in protest against pay and spending cuts proposed by the government of Prime Minister George Papandreou to stave off default, reassure investors and win backing for the bailout. Behind the News  The high cost and low productivity of Greece’s vast public sector, which employs one-third of the labor force and until recently guaranteed jobs for life, were major factors l...

Gulf oil spill could hit your wallet Shipping delays may increase the price of bananas, coffee By HARRY R. WEBER, VICKI SMITH The Associated Press updated  5:56 p.m. PT,   Mon., May 3, 2010 NEW ORLEANS - The calamitous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico isn't just a mess for the people who live or work on the coast. If you drink coffee, eat shrimp, like bananas or plan to buy a new set of tires, you could end up paying more because of the disaster. The slick has forced the shutdown of the gulf's rich fishing grounds and could also spread to the busy shipping lanes at the mouth of the Mississippi River, tying up the cargo vessels that move millions of tons of fruit, rubber, grain, steel and other commodities and raw materials in and out of the nation's interior. Though a total shutdown of the shipping lanes is unlikely, there could be long delays if vessels are forced to wait to have their oil-coated hulls power-washed to avoid contaminating the Mississippi. Some cargo ships m...

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Raining eggs Guards cover Ukraine parliament speaker Volodymr Lytvyn with an umbrella from eggs thrown by opposition lawmakers during ratification of the Black Sea Fleet deal with Russia, in Kiev, Ukraine, on April 27. Ukrainian prosecutors are considering filing charges against parliament members who hurled the eggs and set off smoke bombs in the chamber in protest of the deal. 

Stanford d.school Proves You Really Can Design a Space for Innovation BY   LINDA TISCHLER Mon Apr 26, 2010 "Space matters." That's the mantra at the  Stanford d.school , where students and staffers have spent six years figuring out how to tweak an environment to make it a more fertile breeding ground for ideas. Now they're going to find out if those ideas work. The boxes were unpacked in late March, in time for the start of the university's third quarter. But the official ribbon-cutting on the 40K square foot new building (which houses both the d.school and all other design programs at Stanford) isn't until May 7.  Fast Company  got a sneak preview, and we'll be giving you a guided tour (along with photos, videos and critiques of the space from the students themselves) in the days ahead. We'll go behind the scenes to show how every nook, cranny, and fungible wall system has been smartly designed to maximize collaboration. The school, which is offi...