It must come as a great disappointment to many that Gordon Brown has not lived up to the strong charismatic image he conveyed as Chancellor.

Maybe we expected a lot, having got tired of Tony Blair and his cosiness to George Bush.

More than four months have gone since Mr Brown became Prime Minister and he has been dogged by one disaster after another.

Of course, some events cannot be directly attributed to him, but there are many that are the result of his own doing.

His early exchanges with America gave the impression that he would not be an easy pushover like his predecessor, but his recent encounter with George Bush shows he has gone soft.

It makes one wonder whether we have exchanged a poodle for a Scottish terrier with more bark than bite.

The gesture of flying over to Iraq and announcing that troops will steadily be withdrawn as power is handed back to the Iraqis, is now marred by his threats to Iran.

How can he expect Iran to abandon its nuclear programme when he is willing to spend billions on a Trident nuclear missile defence programme for this country?

His worst blunder was to renege on having a referendum on the new EU constitution. Will the electorate trust him ever again?

We have had a 'foot-and-mouth' scare, a banking and credit crisis and now the catastrophe of missing discs.

Will Flash Gordon be able to rescue the situation - or will he be lost in space?

VIM RODGRIGO Rivermead Road Rose Hill Oxford