Mr Brown goes to Washington

The British PM is in DC to prepare for the upcoming G-20 meeting (if you haven't circled April 2 on your calendar, you should). And, as ever, we can count on the British media - even the civilised portion thereof, which is dwindling - to be a tad more blunt than their American counterparts.

Here's the lede in The Guardian:

Gordon Brown will today urge Barack Obama to join forces in a concerted effort to prevent global depression as the first talks between a European leader and the new US president take place against a backdrop of deepening financial chaos.

An effort to prevent global depression. Hmmm. Think I'll skip that cold shower I was planning to take. This is bracing enough. More:

The global nature of the economic crisis was underlined yesterday when the US problems of HSBC forced the British-based bank to seek an extra £12bn to boost its capital, while losses on business written in London by the American insurer AIG were the catalyst for a fresh sell-off on Wall Street.....
Traders said that comments by the investor Warren Buffett that the US would remain a shambles in 2009 had added to the gloomy mood. Meanwhile, surveys of manufacturing from the UK, Europe and the US all confirmed that industry is shedding tens of thousands of jobs each month in response to the weakest global demand for more than 30 years....
Amid signs many emerging countries are facing extreme financial stress, the White House talks will also focus on the need to provide the International Monetary Fund with extra resources and extra powers to act as an early warning system of global economic problems...

For fun, here's a small sampling of this morning's Google News search results for the P word:

EU official warns protectionism may be gaining ground
Sweden seeks China's support against protectionism
Pascal Lamy: If we go down the road of protectionism, disaster awaits
WTO director urges trade instead of protectionism
OECD warns against protectionism
SE Asian leaders unified on protectionism: official
Meltdown response: Ecuador erects trade barriers
Top Ford of Europe Exec Warns of Growing Protectionism