the "War on Terror"

inspired by listening to Charles Kennedy on the Home Service this morning, and knowing how out of step he would be with most politicians on this, I give you a precis of this morning's leader columns on Blair's proposed new legislation:

the Guardian	anti
the Times	pro
the Telegraph	pro
the Independent"	paid for, so I can't be sure, but from the trailer, I suspect they are: anti
the Mirror	pro
the Sun	pro
the Express	don't appear to put their opinion column on line, but I think we can guess, don't you?
the Daily Mail	yes, dear readers - I even ventured to the world of the Mail, whose front page lead story is headlined Deportation not fair, says extremist (on benefits) - I don't think I need to venture any further.
the Daily Star	carries exactly the same content and format as the Express site. From what I've heard, Mr Desmond is not enamoured of teh Interweb, and won't spend any money on the sites, so this is not a surprise
the Scotsman	has no leader on the subject (!)
the Morning Star	all their content seems to require a subscription payment, which is ever so slightly ironic ...

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no surprises there, then. For the record, Charlie was anti - and so am I.

RIP Robin Cook

I'm more upset by the demise of Robin Cook than I expected to be.

we've lost a man of principle (a rare beast among politicians) and a superb parliamentarian, and the HoC will be the poorer for his absence. While I smiled at Dead Ringers' portrayal of him as an incomprehensible Scottish gnome who required subtitles, he was a witty and intelligent man, who had the courage to resign one of the great offices of state over our involvement in Iraq, leaving Clare Short looking "all mouth and trousers".

if you have to go, doing so at the top of a mountain in north west Scotland has to be one of the best ways to do it. But *59* ... that's only eight years older than I am ...