Late Friday trivial post. Good stuff on Chris Muir from the redoubtable Hilzoy of Obsidian Wings. You may not think much of cartoon pages of US newspapers, but however desperate they are for material, not one so far runs Day by Day (tagline: as funny as the title is original, a take-off of Doonesbury with far fewer characters, no intelligence to speak of, poor repetitive draughtsmanship, and homeless puppy’s eagerness to please aimed unashamedly at wingnut bloggers).

That Mr Blair doesn’t care about what people think about both him and his time in charge of the Kingdom is unquestionable. He will be judged by history, so he tells us. Which is all well and good, of course: caring about others’ opinions is a foolish game indeed. But waiting for history is a [...]

I approach the question of the Monarchy from the following position; [1] if the Queen has no power, then, when we adopt a republican political system there is no pressing constitutional need to replace her.  Or; [2] if the Queen has power, then our primary democratic duty is to republicanise Britain.
I am angled to incline [...]

Back in November, our man Justin had an idea to find new British blogs that we might have missed. Although m’colleague Tim Worstall’s Britblog Roundups bring us a weekly dose of the best individual posts, we wanted to find the best new blogs as well. It is, after all, so very easy to stick to [...]

Shots heard round the world
The Israel-China-Iran arms round-robin

It is difficult to overstate the case with climate change. There is no bigger issue. Calm and informed voices - even David Attenborough’s - are saying it is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. Indeed, it could even be the last.
Next month, the Camp for Climate Action plans to kickstart a campaign of radical [...]

Free of the need to be free
CiF: the truth? You can’t *handle* the truth

The Powerlessness of Israel
Intervention and the un-destruction of insecurity

India bloggers angry at net ban

The Cop and the Christian Crusaders
Gangs and TRUCE in Hackney

Two wrong guesses?
Airbus, Boeing and backing the future

It happened before
The violent logic of banning protest

Tony Blair’s ability to arouse emotion in so many people, who even when combined mean less to the prime minister than a tin of shoe polish, is his greatest, and most intriguing quality.

If not now, when?
Israel’s retaliation