Mat Bowles

So, just getting in at the end, it's March 19th, 5 years since Iraq was invaded on a false pretext without any form of legal or even moral justification that held any water. As a fairly committed liberal internationalist who was in favour of the Yugoslav interventions and had argued for an Afghan intervention a long time before most had heard of the Taliban or Bin Laden, that we spent all our well earned capitolcapital on such a stupid, badly thought out endeavour still horrifies me. Worse, it makes necessary interventions in the future harder to justify to an incredibly sceptical public. But, y'know Jennie's said all these reasons already, and if you think it's hindsitesight talking, why not go look at Robin Cook's resignation speech courtesy of Larry? Meh. Enough talk. Over to Mitch...

Happy Birthday War by Mitch Benn

Says it all really.

If you want it, loads more people are posting, details here.

YouTube - Money money money: David Abrahams and Labour:
( YouTube video, warning, contains Abba music )

I cannot understand how a party can come into office, say they're going to clean up politics, pass a law demanding transparency in party funding, then perpetually break the damn law they themselves passed. Given all the hoops party administrators are supposed to go through dealing with donations (and yes, the lower end of that admin was something I had to do both while temping in Cowley St and before when on the Exeter exec), it's especially galling to see senior Labour types just ignoring them. Don't these damn fools have training? Or the ability to think? Still, at least one of them has done the decent thing, but again, too early to save flack spreading out—you have to resign after someone calls for it, otherwise they go after someone else. Bloody stupid Westminster games.

now_show recording was great, pub afterwards with innerbrat was also cool, even if the annoying drunk talking VERY LOUDLY was a little too loud for me to hear at times. If you're at all interested in taking the piss out of the whole recent debacle, 6.30pm Friday or noon Saturday, BBC Radio 4—you should know this already but some people seem to have an aversion to the channel that, for some obscure reason, also hosts The Archers; no, I don't like that either. Complete with Vince "power" Cable and any many jokes about missing details, lost CDs and the mysteriously appearing donations. Oh, and assuming it gets broadcast, Mitch does a great little ditty about Emma Clarke the voice of the Tube—because she used to be one of the Now Show cast as well. Gordon seems to have forgotten that the breakdown of any relationship, whether with the electorate or a partner, always ends up in an argument of CDs.

I suspect Robin Ince's monologue will get cut to ribbons. I suspect it'll need to be the amount of it that he fluffed up trying to present it.