What Gordon Brown wants from the Afghanistan summit

The summit will also be devoted to alternatives to war, notably the proposal to bribe the Taliban to stop fighting. There is a good pragmatic argument to be made for this. The Foreign Secretary has made clear his belief that the Taliban is not necessarily allied with al Qaeda, though the fluidity of the Taliban makes this hard to assess.

But as the PM says, such a strategy will be effective only if the Afghan military and police are built up at the same time. There is still doubt about the calibre of the recruits, although he promised that the army will be 171,000-strong by 2011. There is also continuing disquiet about the endemic corruption in Afghan society and government.

Today's summit will not turn the tide against the insurgents. If, however, it provides greater co-ordination among the coalition attempting to support its fragile democracy, it may do some good.

Boris's unfair cop

This week's decision by the Mayor to step down as chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority is a cause for concern. Boris Johnson made crime the most important plank of his election campaign; one of his biggest specific pledges was personally to chair the MPA. It was a clear symbol of how seriously he took crime and the task of shaking up the Met. Yet now he is handing over to the deputy mayor for policing, Kit Malthouse. The implication appears to be that Mr Johnson thinks his work is done.

Yet aside from forcing the resignation of former Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair in October 2008, Mr Johnson has not overseen significant changes at the Met. Its new Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, has proved himself a quietly efficient operator; the Met has enjoyed success with its anti-knife campaign. But neither of those factors is attributable to Mr Johnson, even though he paved the way for Sir Paul. And while Mr Malthouse has proved himself combative, he lacks the Mayor's personal mandate. When he suggested last September that he and the Mayor were in control of the Met, he was swiftly slapped down by the Commissioner.

The Tories have said that they want greater political involvement in policing, with elected commissioners. Now London's Mayor has rowed back. Perhaps worse, he has offered no substantive explanation for his decision. Law and order has not improved significantly in London since Mr Johnson's election. He needs to reassure Londoners that he still has his eye on the ball.

Haiti hope

Today we learned of the near-miraculous survival of a teenage girl in the wreck of a campus building in Haiti, 15 days after the earthquake. This is a spectacular story, to set against the reality of the shambolic state of Haiti. This paper has supported the work of the British Merlin charity there. After other organisations leave, it will remain in Haiti to help the long-term rehabilitation of victims. Sustained help is what this unhappy country now needs most.