The Palin map - Giffords' chilling prediction

The Independent's Jonathan Raban writes:

Gabrielle Giffords made great sense when, in March 2010, she discussed the Palin map with a TV interviewer, saying: "Sarah Palin has the cross-hairs of a gunsight over our district – and when people do that, they've got to realise there are consequences to that action."

We don't know exactly what she was getting at but it's a chilling quote.
Hopefully she'll soon be able to tell us.

Santa 2.0

Nice piece by Brian Campbell in today's Wall Street Journal.

He's saying that Santa needs upgrading and outsourcing. He thinks we need a Santa who: 'runs triathlons and talks about them on Twitter'.
Should somebody tell him? Where's Julian Assange when you need him.

Rubberbandits - pure genius

I can only describe this as undescribable.



Surely this should romp home as Christmas No1.

Sepp Blatter's gay PR disaster

This anti-gay comment could be more damaging to Sepp Blatter than the dodgy World Cup decisions.



He's not just head of an organisation that, to put it generously, requires a little more transparency, he's also proved himself to be a political dinosaur. He needs some quality PR.
Sepp Blatter is 74.

Embarrassing Times

Now they've got a pay wall so here's an extract from the second leader in today's Times:
'There is a dangerous nihilism in the refusal to distinguish between information that embarasses the powerful, and information that potentially puts lives at risk.'
There but for the grace goes everyone who publishes words, so I refuse to gloat.
But, that is embarassing, or should that be embarrassing, for a paper with the highest standards of all.

Cameron's happy index

David Cameron is launching a £2m project to work out how happy we all are.
I suggest he puts the cash back in the Treasury and visits a few pubs and just asks around.
He'll find out soon enough what irks the nation.
"To those who say that all this sounds like a distraction from the serious business of government, I say finding out what will really improve lives and acting on it is the serious business of government," he will say, says the BBC.
I am one of those who will say that, when he says that.
I suspect I will not be alone.

New Zealand miners RIP

The deaths of 29 miners in New Zealand is an awful tragedy and seems all the worse for its proximity to the dramatic Chilean rescue story.
Mining can never be an entirely safe business but steps must be taken to keep these accidents to a minimum.
Our thoughts go out to the families involved.