THERE was never going to be a good time to raise the difficult issue of Britain's plans for life after the Trident nuclear weapons system.

But, with international sensitivity at a peak over the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, Gordon Brown has displayed a questionable sense of timing in announcing his personal support for replacing Trident.

We believe that Britain cannot be left without an effective deterrent and a decision on Trident's replacement will clearly have to be made once there has been a full Parliamentary debate.

But we also recognise that there is a conflict in telling other countries that they should not have nuclear weapons while looking ahead to modernising our own.

And why should that declaration come from the Chancellor? And why now, when the need for diplomacy with regard to Iran and North Korea is so important?

It is hard to avoid the suspicion that the Chancellor's decision to declare his hand on nuclear weapons is simply part of his own strategy to succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister.

Mr Brown has demonstrated that he is not scared to incur the wrath of the Left of the Labour Party and - more importantly - earned himself a "Brave Gordon" headline in The Sun's editorial comment.

By pledging his support for a replacement for Trident, Mr Brown is angling for support as a replacement for Tony Blair.

Here's how...

A FORMULA for taking the perfect penalty, devised by scientists in Liverpool, has been graphically interpreted on Page Three of The Northern Echo today.

Copies will, of course, be despatched to the England World Cup team in case we play Germany.