Bomb in Beirut Al Jazeera receives bomb threat over its coverage Thai train hijacked by rebels Further trouble in Kyrgyzstan? Unrest in Togo Iraqi police fire on protestors; kidnappers claim to have killed another official US Army buries news it … Continue reading →

Former Labour Prime Minister Lord Callaghan has died the day before his 93rd birthday. Despite being the only politician in history to have held all four major positions in British politics – Chancellor, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister … Continue reading →

That’s what it sounds like as he says “We hope the opposition will quickly take the situation under control.” Overnight there has been some rioting and looting – five are reported dead, 200 injured. The former opposition leadership, now in … Continue reading →

I was wondering a couple of weeks back why no one seems to be interested in the protests in Kyrgyztan. Well, against all expectations the opposition protestors seem to be getting somewhere: “The opposition in Kyrgyzstan says it has taken … Continue reading →

The Guardian have sorted out their Weblog Awards thing, so now it seems clearer which one I am. As such – vote for me! There’s a lot of catch-up to be done to get up there with Lib Dem Watch … Continue reading →

My fellow Guardian Political Weblog Awards nominee, the bastion of the “pro-war left” that is Harry’s Place, has a post up on the decision to delay lifting the embardo on arms exports to China, following a piece by Timothy Garton-Ash … Continue reading →

The Guardian Backbencher’s Political Weblog Award shortlists are out. It would appear Europhobia has made it through. I would ask for your votes – but sadly another, similarly-titled blog, EUrophobe, has also been nominated in the single-issue campaigns section. The … Continue reading →

Can’t be bothered at the moment – it’s sunny and I’m overworked and knackered. Have a picture of me to cheer yourself up:

Thanks to efforts by The Guardian, the Zimbabwean opposition’s newspaper now has its own website, launched yesterday. The Zimbabwean is more than worthy of patronage from anyone who professes to be a supporter of democracy and freedom, standing up to … Continue reading →

According to the latest ICM opinion poll (.pdf file), at least. In the first question, “Which of the following issues will be most important in your decision on how to vote in the next general election?”, there was a singular … Continue reading →

An article in The Sunday Times yesterday was a prime example of the easy cop-out of buck-passing to the EU whenever a government department makes a cock-up. Basic story? A moronic official at DEFRA vetoed a food advertising campaign because … Continue reading →

Yesterday’s budget promised a �200 council tax rebate to pensioners. A handy bribe, with an election coming up. As Labour’s Blogging Bromwich East MP notes, “Gordon Brown just gave 12,980 pensioner households in my constituency an additional �200, it’s these … Continue reading →

In a comment to this post, a chap by the name of Ronnie in New Orleans, who has visited the site before on and off to have a few arguments with a wishy-washy liberal Brit, has a rather good summary … Continue reading →

That’s how much the “War on Terror” has cost, according to the budget. �4.9 billion. That’s �4,900,000,000 – a lot of zeros. Would you look at that? This money could have been used to fund ID cards for every citizen, … Continue reading →