Blog
Meet "the sexiest man in Finland"
Do you recognise this smooth haired man with a certain je ne sais quoi mousy greyness? Does he strike you as the sexiest man in Finland, which is how Jacques Chirac once famously described him? He is Matti Vanhanen, the...
Is Russia everyone’s best friend now?
Is Russia everyone's best friend today? Will we notice the difference if our oil comes from Russia now it has secured a pipeline through to Greece? It wasn't so long ago that it halted oil supplies to Belarus after imposing hefty price rises. At...
Who swindled who?
A guest post by William Connolley. There has been a vast amount of back and forth about the recent propaganda film "The Great Global Warming Swindle". Two things have distressed me: that Channel 4 clearly have no interest in whether they broadcast truth...
Ambramovich, footloose and fancy free
So billionaire Roman Abramovich is now footloose and fancy free following his costly divorce, which we could be hearing much more about from his ex-wife. I wonder which country they divorced in, how many zeros are on the end of the cheque. I also wonder if he is...
Nuclear power stations risk being flooded
Greenpeace could have something here, nuclear power stations built along the coast in East Anglia are at risk of being flooded if sea levels rise as predicted. These are the findings of a study by the Flood Hazard Research Centre at Middlesex University...
Why is my blog banned in China?
I have never considered myself a rebel, but it appears that by blog has been banned in China, according to this test. Why not try it yourself and see if you will join me in isolation. So why do you think I have been banned? Nobody swears on my blog, we have...
Welshcake Limoncello’s Letter from Sicily
One of my daily reads is Sicily Scene penned by linguist teacher Welshcakes Limoncello who left her Cardiff home after retiring young enough to enjoy the irresistible charms of the Italian island. She has no plans to return. She waxes lyrical about its cuisine and...
Why so few women councillors?
This year is the centenary of legislation which stated that women should not be disqualified by sex or marriage for election as a councillor. Yet after 100 years, there are only 29% of women councillors, with only 14% serving as women council leaders...
Let’s remember our women in Africa
We rarely hear of AIDS in the UK today, even though newly diagnosed cases doubled in 2005 to more than 7,500 compared to 2000. It's even harder to imagine what it must be like for sufferers in Africa. By the end of 2005, there were five and a half...