Current Affairs

In the old days, single-issue nutters used to write letters in green ink. Now they are better funded, and they all seem to be called SomethingWatch. Take MigrationWatch. This is a campaign group that fights against immigration using Daily Mail “Britain is full” arguments. It is not officially associated with

What with the fuss at the moment about creationism in schools, it’s interesting to remember a strong anti-creationist lobbying effort in the UK a couple of years back, led by … er … the Bishop of Oxford.

ITV’s show Vote for Me – a sort of pol idol, where a three-person panel quizzes people who want to stand as MPs – has been shunted to a graveyard slot at 11 p.m., but is still a fine example of down-the-pub politics. Notable horror: Rodney Hylton-Potts, the soi-disant cabbies’

I think I may have Bush fatigue. I’ve just been reading a post and comments on MetaFilter, and I wasn’t able to work up any sort of outrage or disgust at all, even though the US administration is flying a kite about indefinite imprisonment without trial. It wasn’

Inquiries for opposition politicians are a bit like Chinese food – all very well but thirty minutes later you fancy another one.

From the “only the guilty have anything to fear” department: almost 1/2 of Americans polled for MSNBC believe that Muslims living in the US should have their rights restricted. Interestingly, the (to me) less atrocious idea of infiltrating of civic and voluntary groups (something I’m sure MI5 do

Crooked Timber looks to squash a spreading error – the idea that electronic markets predicted the US election better than the polls did. The actuality – that the markets were as inaccurate as the polls – indicates to me both the reliance of markets on available information and common wisdom, rather than anything

The British Government are closing a number of embassies and consulates to save money.

Elliot Spitzer, the corporation-bashing attorney general of New York, is standing for election as governor in 2006. The New York Times reports. Also, Mr Spitzer has a blog.

After unisex hairdressers, the unisex branch of the Church of England. BBC