M15’s links with Gaddafi regime exposed; Keira shocker; Brown ‘deluded’

From political intrigue, to business scandal to scurrilous tales of the rich and famous, our trawl through the gutters of Britain's Sunday papers is posted before 12 noon every week.

GORDON BROWN WAS DELUDED, SAYS HIS CHANCELLORGordon Brown was so deluded that he believed the 2008 banking crisis would be over in six months, former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling writes in his memoir, serialised in the Sunday Times. Darling claims there was a "permanent air of chaos and crisis" in Downing Street. Many "fell foul" of the Brownites' "fairly brutal regime".

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY 'THRASHING' SET TO SHOCKActress Keira Knightley is set to shock fans of her romcoms and period dramas, says the Mail on Sunday, by appearing as a sexually masochistic neurotic who has an affair with Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method. In one scene, Knightley's character is seen strapped to a bed while being thrashed by the Swiss psychiatrist.
The new Keira Knightley: 'I want you to punish me'PENSIONERS GET £25BN SHARES BOOSTA late August rally in share prices is good news for millions of pensioners who will see their pension plans "shored up" after months of falling stock markets and low interest rates, according to the Sunday Express. Consultants Aon Hewitt claim that since August 18 a 6% surge in share prices has boosted pension pots by £24.7bn.

JOHN RENTOUL: WHY DID NO ONE STOP GORDON?The portrait of Gordon Brown that emerges from Alistair Darling's memoir is "so bad", says John Rentoul in the Independent on Sunday, that it begs the question – why did Blair, Campbell, Mandelson and Darling do nothing to stop him when they had the chance? "It is not much use arguing now over who was right and who was wrong".

ADELE POSTPONES UK TOUR DATES A severe cold and chest infection have forced the singer Adele to postpone the first two dates of her UK tour, reports the People – Plymouth tonight and Bournemouth tomorrow. The announcement comes after she sang on the debut Jonathan Ross Show on ITV despite the start of a cold. The show, broadcast last night, had been pre-recorded.
Deja vu as Ross returns with identical chat showMI5 'SPIED ON LIBYAN TORTURE VICTIMS' MI5 once asked Libya's secret service for regular "debriefs" on what terrorist suspects were revealing under interrogation in Libyan jails, where torture was routine. Documents found in Tripoli and seen by the Sunday Times also reveal MI5 agreed to trade information on 50 British–based Libyan dissidents judged to be a threat to Col Gaddafi.
Fears about al-Qaeda led MI5 to cosy up to LibyansRELEASED STOCKPORT NURSE 'TO SUE POLICE'The nurse held in prison for 42 days over the deaths of seven patients from contaminated saline drips at the Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport is planning to sue the police after all allegations against her were dropped on Friday, according to the Sunday Mirror. Rebecca Leighton's fellow inmates branded her a murderer and threatened to kill her.

THE GASTROPUB IS HISTORYThe expression 'gastropub' has been deemed unpalatable by the new Good Food Guide, whose editor told the Independent on Sunday:  "It was a bandwagon that a lot of people have jumped on... customers are getting bored with it". Research shows that people's average pub visits have dropped from five to four a month in the past year.

THREAT TO DISBAND CONSERVATIVES IN SCOTLANDMurdo Fraser, front-runner for the leadership of the Scottish Conservative Party, plans to disband the party and start a new right-of-centre party, the Sunday Telegraph reports. Fraser believes the Scottish Tories has become "a toxic brand" since losing all their 11 Westminster seats in the 1977 Labour landslide. There are fears the move will encourage the break-up of the UK.

USAIN BOLT BACK ON TOP WITH 200M WINJamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is back on track after his 100m false start now that he has regained his 200m world title in Daegu, South Korea. Bolt's time of 19.4 seconds was slower than his 19.19 world record set in Berlin in 2009 but enough to guarantee he'll be "a stand-out global star" of the 2012 London Olympics, says the Mail on Sunday. 

CHRISTINA ODONE: NADINE ISN'T ALL WRONGNadine Dorries's "modest" proposal to offer independent advice to women seeking an abortion has led to the Tory MP receiving abusive phone calls and death threats. But she was right to raise the issue, argues Christina Odone in the Sunday Telegraph. Scientific progress means the current 24-week abortion limit needs readdressing.
No 10 withdraws support for abortion law changeAIRPORT TRIALS NEW WAY TO CATCH LIARSThermal-imaging cameras and software designed to spot the tell-tale signs of deception are to be trialed at a British airport, according to the Sunday Times. Inventor Hassan Ugail explained that after secretly recording an interview, customs and passport control officers could "basically just press a computer button and say: was this person lying or not." 

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