Nice post at A very British Dude on the evils of socialism. Has this youTube video on the evils of communism:

Golden compass

There is a promotion site for the forthcoming film The Golden Compass which is the american name for the book The Northern Lights, the first in Philip Pullman's trilogy "His Dark Materials". They have a short personality test there which then assigns you a Daemon. You can then email a link to it to let your friends answer the same questions about you and see if your Daemon changes. Mine was initially a chimpanzee so I'll email a few people and see if it changes..

Michael Howard vs Alastair Campbell

Via Chicken Yoghurt:

Ask Tom "Avoiding overlap values..."

Nice check for overlapping values in Oracle

Ask Tom "Avoiding overlap values..."

Prescient

The following passage is from the introduction of the Rapstone Chronicles by John Mortimer:

The discovery that has struck the Titmuss philosopy and left it badly holed is that caring for the environment is quite inconsistent with the free-market economy. Green and true-blue are colours that don't, unfortunately, mix. Preserving the countryside, protecting the woodlands, concern for the ozone layer, all demand levels of government intervention unthinkable in the heady days of victory over the miners and the Falklands War. The high spring of laissez-faire economics is over, the bloom is gone and, such is the nature of politics, with the bloom goes Titmuss.

Who will take his place? It seems likely that Conservatism in the Titmuss mould is now out of style, and his successors may be those prepared to revert to the old consensus days of Butler and Harold Wilson. But what of the left? If free-market Toryism has taken a beating it's as nothing to what recent events in Europe have done to the dreams of the Reverend Simcox. The Labour Party seems to have achieved its huge rise in the opinion polls by freeing itself from what are seen as the tentacles of a Socialist octupus. So what is the new, up-and-coming Labour M.P. going to be like? No doubt he will have extinguished the dear old Trades Union dinosaur. Unquestionably he will be outspoken, quick-witted, with a talent for P.R. and a complete freedom from class distinctions. He will, of course, be wearing a blue suit with a discreet tie, own a car phone and a word processor and believe in free enterprise in a mixed economy. Is the stage set, after the next election, for the emergence of the first Labour Titmuss? Whatever happens, of one thing there is no doubt, British politics will remain a fertile ground for comedy.

John Mortimer 1991