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To the person who came here today on a search for "intelligent political questions" - I just hope that you found some intelligent political answers!

Alleged torture sites in Europe, alleged British complicity in this and the only too public longstanding attempts by the US to force the world to grant it immunity from liability in any war crimes court all mix in a new brew this week. In order to escape from the implications of an International Criminal Court the USA has been seeking bilateral agreements with countries around the world in which those countries agree never to subject US citizens to the scrutiny of the court – even if that country has ratified the ICC treaty. So far 98 countries, mostly poor ...

UKOWLA and the Warwick Bo One World Link Building Community Partnerships between UK and Sierra Leone 2-3 December (Friday & Saturday) This conference will bring together towns, schools, local authorities, faith-based and diaspora groups and others who have links to Sierra Leone. The purpose of the conference will be to learn more from each other, to share and promote good practice, and to identify practical solutions. The conference is being organised jointly by UKOLWA and the Warwick Bo One World Link and is supported by the DFID Global School Partnerships. For further information please contact pepi@ukowla.org.uk ...

The BBC Politics Show has launched a Fantasy Shadow Cabinet pending the election of hte new Tory Leader. All you have to do is name the men who will file the big 4 jobs. I've gone for DC is the leaders shoes and the following for his main appointees. Shadow Chancellor: David Davis, I know George Osbourne is close to Cameron but he may serve another role such as Party Chairman to get Cameron's

Jungle Tony is obviously scared of things creeping through the rafters above him yesterday. As he left the hall he was supposed to give his speech about Nuclear energy to go to another room when Greenpeace protesters climbed to the rafters demanding a 10 minute counter statement. This man is supposed to be the leader of our parliament. Does he parlez much? For a start he tends to avoid the

Today saw Dr. John Sentamu enthroned as Archbishop of York. Dr. Sentamu was most recently Bishop of Birmingham, and whilst I never met him I admired his work and much of what he said.

Paul Berger, in an article for the Online Journalism Review, asks if British bloggers are lagging behind their American counterparts when in comes to number of readers and influence. His broad conclusions are 1. yes and 2. no. Why do British blogs have fewer readers? Well, there are fewer Britons than Americans, and our press is less opinionated. Berger quotes Neil McIntosh from Guardian Unlimited saying: "In this country we have an enormously diverse media. You can be offended by Richard Littlejohn on the right and George Monbiot on the left. You can find [right wing] Max Hastings and [left ...

As someone who has grown up with computers (first: zx81), and been a bit geekish ever since[1], you get used to people saying "can you just look at my PC its not doing X".So popped over to Wolverhampton last night to have a look at Colin's laptop and monitor.Turned out that the non-working monitor was plugged into the wrong socket, while the lack of powerpoint on the laptop was solved by searching for it and running a presentation (just needed the serial number).At least neither of them involved finding the power switch... [1] Although as a chemist at UMIST you ...

When I was at school, we were taken on a trip to Trawsfynydd. For the uninitiated, Trawsfynydd is a (now defunct) nuclear power station in Wales. We were given the spiel about how nuclear power was a miracle cure for our energy needs. Clean, cheap and safe. The clean-up has now begun at Trawsfynydd. Robots are painstaking moving radioactive material to be encased in concrete. The decommisioning and clean-up of Trawsfynydd will cost more than £1 billion, and the site is unlikely to be completely returned to the way it was pre-nuclear in my lifetime. Meanwhile in Chernobyl, childhood cancers ...

This story is about a dispute between Russia and Ukraine. This has the potential to affect UK gas supplies through the interconnector. It has the potential to reduce our supplies by 25 mcm/d. That, of course, would cut into Medium Term Storage and possibly short term storage. LTS withdrawals are continuing apace even though demand is relatively low for the temperature at about 370 mcm/d. I

Data ProtectionQ: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will increase individuals' rights under the Data Protection Act 1998. (John Hemming)A:The Data Protection Act 1998, which accurately reflects the requirements of the Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC), puts in place a firm regulatory structure to ensure the legitimate processing of individuals' personal data. It provides substantial rights for individuals in respect of their personal data, including the right of subject access, the right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress, the right to prevent processing for the purposes of direct marketing, rights in ...

Monday 28th November 2005 - I was invited to the official launch of the Aboutknowsley.com web site on Monday evening which formally went "live" in a ceremony performed by the Mayor and Mayoress of Knowsley, Cllr Jim Keight and his wife Josie, and the Squire of Knotty Ash Ken Dodd!! Ken was on fine form, presenting the Mayoress with her very on tickling stick during the official launch

As I boarded an aeroplane on Monday night, one of the cabin crew asked me to move farther down the aircraft. To spread the load. Tags: weight, flying

The Guardian reports another of those sad cases where a mother is gaoled because her child is playing truant. This is one is from Wolverhampton, and the most striking thing about the report are the comments by Christine Irvine, the city council's cabinet member for children and young people: "It is a legal requirement for children to attend school."This is, of course, nonsense. As the government-supported ParentsCentre website says: Parents are allowed to educate their children at home instead of school if they choose to do so. Under UK law it is education that is compulsory, not schooling, ...

UNESCO in London 13 December (Tuesday) The UK National Commission for UNESCO will be hosting the UK Launch Conference for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development at the Institute of Education, London. Four seminars will address some key issues including: Climate Change; Building Skills and Capacity for Sustainable Development; Culture and Community and Education for Sustainable Development; and Communicating Sustainable Development. If you have any questions or would like to register for the conference, please contact Alex Inglis on +44(0) 20 7766 3453 or by ...

Peace Brigades International and City Soul 10 December (Saturday, 9pm-late) A Night of World Music supporting human rights at the Yacht Club, Temple Station, London, WC2R 2PN. Tickets cost £10. Peace Brigades International have joined forces with City Soul to commemorate Human Rights Day with a mix of music spanning 3 continents across 3 rooms (Latin and Brazilian Beats, Asian rhythms and African roots music). Proceeds from the night will go to Peace Brigades International UK. Tickets are available from www.ticketweb.com or for more information visit www.peacebrigades.org

One of the issues that has provoked much debate within the Assembly's House Committee is the building's fire alarm system. The House Committee is responsible for administering the affairs of the Parliamentary side of the Assembly including its buildings and estates. As such when a rather confusing fire drill took place a few months ago they asked for a report. The system that operates here is a two stage one. When an alarm sounds the area closest to the possible fire hears a continuous wailing indicating that staff should evacuate. The rest of the building hears an ...

Christmas it appears is the season of awards. The BBC programme AM/PM will be issuing its twice-yearly awards to Welsh politicians today, whilst later on this evening HTV Wales will be doing the same thing. Meanwhile, the Daily Post has e-mailed AMs asking for nominations for Politician of the Year, Male AM of the Year, Female AM of the Year and Quote of the Year. According to the BBC, the best-dressed politician of the year is the Social Justice Minister, Edwina Hart. The judges were particularly taken with her striking blue-dress-and-gloves combo at the red-carpet Royal Variety Performance last ...

Kudos to Robert Levi for creating a bizarre peice of ‘outsider’ media: called “Radcliffe Project“, 21 minutes of not-quite slash-fiction combined with copious conspiracy theories, but performed as a commentary to the 2nd Harry-Potter movie. This disturbing, but hillarious performance can be downloaded from the radio4all podcast network. The premise of this recording is [...]