The chip giant is facing its own antitrust investigation in the U.S., and the Wintel pair is no longer quite as thick as thieves are.

CNN: Top 10 IT news stories of 1998

Will Mr Brown confirm, in words or body language, the claim of his erstwhile rival, John Prescott, that chancellor and deputy prime minister are now thick as thieves in a partnership of Keynesian demand-managers?

ECONOMIST: Politics