Text Gordon

I've just received a nice shiny email promoting the fact that Gordon will engage in some new media thing on t'internet "tonight" (the first in the world ever by a Head of Government, apparently).

A quick look on the Labour party website, where there is a form which punters can use to submit questions to Gordon, suggests that the webchat will in fact take place on "Monday 4 April".

The next Monday 4th April is in 2011 - Gordon is evidently uber-confident that he will win a mandate from the electorate to head up a fourth term Labour Government...!


Update: The apparent confidence has disappeared! Webcast will take place tonight, Monday 7th April instead of in 4 years time....

Slim Pickings

If you fancy a tipple on the Grand National this afternoon, try Slim Pickings.

If you believe the polls, and fancy a tipple on the General Election, also try Slim Pickings.

Quite simply, no...

... in answer to a question posed by Iain Dale.

See for yourself:

In praise of ... the BBC News website redesign

For so long, the BBC News website looked stuck in Web -47.0. So it's sleek new look, unveiled today, is a welcome breath of fresh air.

The new features are outlined at length in this post on the BBC News Editor's blog.

However, I'm most impressed by the wider page, better use of white space and the calmer, less cramped layout of the information (Guardian Unlimited has a not too dissimilar look).

Who cares about substance when information looks this good...?

A good day to bury old news...

Should we be suprised that today, of all days, the FCO complied with the Information Commissioner's demand to release draft copies of the WMD dossier...?

Nonetheless, the documents make for interesting reading - particularly with the benefit of the retrospective eye.

The key headline from the draft is that it didn't include reference to the now infamous "45-minute" claim.

The argument about that particular 'fact' was, at the time, merely a convenient tactic for those opposed to the military action to pretend that Saddam Hussein wasn't a threat. The evidence, on balance, suggests that he was at the time the document was put together.

The Government could have done a better job in presenting the available intelligence back in 2002. However, it seems clear enough that the final dossier was something approximating the available intelligence at the time.

Yet I'm not so sure history will remember it as such...

You can find some of the documents, as well as a summary report, on the BBC News website here. And the July 2002 draft here.

Logic of Life

Tim Harford, the Undercover Economist, has a new book out called the Logic of Life. He recently publicised this in the US, by visiting Comedy Central's Colbert Report.



I first met Tim at a work event a year ago. He is quietly impressive, and his books and FT columns are always a good read.

You can find more at his website, at timharford.com.

London has less water than Sudan, apparently

I'm told (by an eco-warrier friend of mine) that, on a per person basis, you'll find more water in Sudan than in Greater London.

Good job that London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, is offering all Greater Londoners DIY Planet Repairs Toolkit for £0.

Sign up for yours - for free - here.