Month: March 2003
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Spam
I’m running a bit of an experiment this week, checking to see how much Spam I get in the course of a week. I’m now using a superb program called POPfile to sort my spam from genuine mail. The user just has to identify some early mail, differentiating between spam and genuine mail, and it…
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The Independent Foreign Fiction Award
It was quite interesting to read the shortlist of books for the Independent’s Foreign Fiction prize. Interesting because I’ve actually read a couple of them. �9.99 is a very entertaining satire of the advertising industry, and The Athenian Murders is an excellent modern/ancient muder mystery. Very postmodern. I must admit that I bought a copy…
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Big Day in Parliament
I must admit that first thing this morning (or was it last thing last night?), I set the video to record a large amount of today’s Parliament Channel output. As I type, Charles Kennedy is speaking in the Commons, with the debate having been under way for about 90 minutes. As I said before, last…
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What’s Clare Short Up To?
She’s decided to stay in the government. Surely she’s totally lost all her credibility. Does she think that she can help from within? You can’t very publicly threaten to resign and then not do it. Lord Hunt of Kings Heath has quit today, but she stays on. This piece from BBC News Online speculates as…
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Correspondent
Although I knew that the Correspondent programme I was talking about yesterday was delayed by 24 hours, I hadn’t realised the storm of protest its movement had generated. This article in today’s Guardian details the calls and emails. I’ve got to say that it was very strong programme that just shows the lack of true…
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Robin Cook’s Speech
Well the speech was published by Hansard today. Here’s the text: 17 Mar 2003 9.44 pm Mr. Robin Cook (Livingston): This is the first time for 20 years that I have addressed the House from the Back Benches. I must confess that I had forgotten how much better the view is from here. None of…
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Correspondent
Just been watching a fascinating edition of Correspondent detailing Israel’s secret production of nuclear weapons. No-one’s about to invade Israel over this are they? Poor old Mordechai Vanunu who has been imprisoned for the past 16 years. And this country is supposed to be a democracy, yet you cannot even talk about their nuclear industry!…
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Robin Cook’s Resignation Speech
I spent this evening mainly watching TV news and current affairs coverage. By far the best part of this was Robin Cook’s resignation speech in the commons just before 10.00pm. It was political dynamite, that received a remarkable standing ovation from some members of the House at the end. I’m going to find a link…
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Iraq Update
Well Robin Cook has indeed resigned – I look forward to hearing his statement later on this evening. Will Clare Short follow soon?
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Iraq
The situation gets worse. They’ve called for the evacuation of all the weapons inspectors, and everyone seems to think that the war will start at 2am (or thereabouts) on Wednesday morning. Needless to say, there hasn’t been a second UN resolution, and there’s an emergency cabinet meeting later on today. Will Clare Short and Robin…
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Lapsed Weblog
It’s been ages since I last put anything up (aside from the last entry a couple of minutes ago). In the meantime, the world seems to have gone totally mad. We go to war in a matter of hours now. That much seems certain.
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The Envy of the World
This book is subtitled, Fifty years of the BBC Third Programme and Radio 3. I picked it up cheaply in one of those Soho remaindered bookshops a few weeks ago on the recommendation (well mention really) of a friend. I’ve got to say that it’s a fascinating read about one the cultural aspects of which…