. read more...

We are watching the special question time "american-stylee" debate between the two potential Tory leaders and well. it's all rather lame. read more...

I probably walked over one of those bombs on Wednesday afternoon. En-route from Euston to Kings Cross at about 6pm, about 14 hours before the bombs went off. read more...

The lack of a viable election candidate was certainly evident in our household today. Over the last few weeks we have had bumf through the letterbox from the Tories, Labour, UKIP and the Socialist Labour party. read more...

Well it's election time again and as usual I'm not sure quite how best to use my vote. As the Bolton seat is a pretty safe Labour one I'm probably going to vote Green - this being my gut reaction at the moment, however if it were a bit more precarious I might just vote LibDem. read more...

The Terry Waite event was pretty good - though by no means packed to the rafters, presumably due to it's intersecting with Monday Prayers and a very hot sunny evening immediately after an election. Not withstanding it got a fair bit of media attention including an extensive interview on the world service. read more...

On Friday I am going to the home of the Parrot Sketch. <br/><br/> <br/><br/>Meanwhile back in Sheffield we have rather given up on the whole househunting thing or at least are having a rest from it. read more...

The other week, various people held a vigil for the Guantanamo Bay detainees, in front of the town hall. I got roped in to be the ‘man in the orange suit’, and took turns with Mozas to sit in the imaginary box. read more...

Remember last week, before the bombs went off in Madrid, there was all manner of broohaha about Guantanamo and the wider issues of locking people up in a legal black hole for doing something you can't prove they did with no access to legal representation etc etc. Anyway I'd like to draw peoples' attention to this Letter from Corin Redgrave to the Home Secretary which has just gone up on the GHRC website. read more...

An acquaintance of mine has set up the Guantanamo Human Rights Commission, which intends to lobby various people to try and get some proper justice for the guys in Camp X-Ray. The poster below has made me think of an analogy: Imagine if I drove a car at 150 mph down the M1 - and then claimed that it wasn't illegal to do so because the car was rented. read more...

(photo by Charlie - from the LNR Journal) . read more...

I've been being quiet for the last few days. Anyway erm to be topical, this Chasing Bush website caught my eye (thanks Jez). read more...

Galloway has an article in the Guardian today. A scathing attack on new labour an extract of which goes as follows:<br/> I never did call upon anyone to "rise up", far less "kill", British soldiers. read more...

P&amp;P are organising a second symposium in london. Check it out . read more...

The Green Party has just published an article on Georges Galloway and Monbiot and their relationship with the SWP in forming their new coalition. In brief they say it's bent. read more...

I came across a link on Sheffield Indymedia to an article in the Guardian about George Monbiot's attempt to unite the left. It sounds like his plan is to create a new coalition of the various anti-war organisations and to stand candidates at the forthcoming local and european elections. read more...

Another bit of house price news came up today on the BBC. Is this all snake oil. read more...

And it's vanished off our collective media-scopes already. What is going on. read more...

I've posted a new manifesto to Peace and Progress and made the new much simplified forum live. It's still got a few flaws notably that you can't edit your posts and moderation has to be done directly on the database - it's early days after all. read more...

Over the last few weeks there have been various reports coming up on the Fancynews as to the state of the UK property market. Everyone seems to say it's over-inflated, but they are divided on whether it's going to correct itself or crash abysmally. read more...

Some amusing letters from politicians sparked by the author finding a picture <br/>of Enoch Powell on a pogo stick. <br/> <br/> . read more...

I was mildly amused to see that there is a campaign to get Tony Blair elected president of the USA. At least it would get rid of him for a bit. read more...

There has been a flurry of activity over at P&amp;P, a meeting in Birmingham on the case of the British prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay. And Charmaine has written a report and provided pictures in a good prompt style. read more...

There seems to be quite a lot of stuff happening. I woke up to the strains of Cherie's horrible singing on the today programme and was then forced out of bed by an unfortunate reprisal of "We'll keep a welcome in the hillsides". read more...

Craig Pitt from the Law Society just sent me this interesing link about Disarm DSEi 2003, a campaign to shut down the Defence Systems and Equipment International conference, one of those scary military trade shows. Now this exposes the age old problem which I think I've written about before - technology tends to be of interest to Military types, it being the stuff of victory, and that includes software. read more...

And the trains to and from London were shit. Surprise. read more...

Yesterday's symposium was absolutely fascinating. Good to hear a very different slant on the whole affair from the panel - made such a change from the stale rallies I've been to in Sheffield, just to have people who really do know what they are talking about, experts in international law, a senior figure from the UN, and a member of the Labour party NEC. read more...

I find it very interesting (and am rather pleased) that the debate over whether the war was justified has suddenly gained a lot of media ground. All thanks to Donald Rumsfeld's admission that Saddam might have destroyed the weapons. read more...

The Independent on Sunday (25/5/03) ran this article about the "Liberation or war crime" symposium. What's more they had a leader article on the front page. read more...

I was reading an article in the Independent on the NHS and it's forgery of waiting list times (while lying in bed last Sunday morning) and asked an anonymous NHS source how the referral system works and was given a real-life example. As someone who is into designing systems I was horrified. read more...

Seymour Hersh wrote this article in the New Yorker of May 12th 2003. Well worth a read. read more...

The US has given a little ground in it's Security Council resolution on Iraq - much in the form of sops to the other members of the security council for unpaid oil revenues and such. Also significantly they have removed the time constraints on the occupation - stating that it would last "until an internationally recognised, representative government is established by the people of Iraq and assumes [their] responsibilities" rather than 12 months. read more...

While browsing the Sheffield anti-war-coalition email list today I was as usual disappointed to see there was plenty of infighting going on, much sparked by Mark Thomas's rant about the SWP in the New Statesman. Quite entertaining, and raises many valid questions. read more...

I mentioned the great and the good. Or at least the reasonably well informed. read more...

I happened to spend Sunday in the building where Claire Short holds her local surgery, discussing P&P with it's various progenitors. The very next day she finally decides to resign. read more...

BBC: UN rift looms over Iraq sanctions US proposals going before the Security Council restrict the UN to an advisory role in spending Iraq's oil revenues. The US and UK are clearly continuing to sideline the UN - consistent with the stated aims of the neocons in reshaping it to suit their own purposes. read more...