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.

Shrewd Opportunism?

Chris Huhne is merely thinking of his own political capital in writing to the Metropolitan Police Chief, Sir Ian Blair, demanding an investigation into the latest party funding row.

Perhaps he is hoping it will do for his reputation what it did for SNP MP Angus MacNeil's in "Funding-gate" pt 1.

Yet whilst Gordon Brown's suggestion yesterday that the donations were "unlawful" may imply a police investigation is necessary, that Chris Huhne is attempting to "cash in" (pun not intended) on the issue is quite base.

It might help him in his attempt to get the poisoned chalice that is the Lib Dem leadership, but it hardly paints a rosy picture of British politics in general.

As if potentially unlawful donations aren't bad enough, this petty sort of playground politics makes our legislators look like a bunch of ferrets in a sack.

The smart thing for opposition parties to do in this situation is to give the impression they are concerned with the consequences of this latest furore, and with the actions of those involved, without appearing to be shamelessly capitalising on it.

In praise of ... Ben Brogan's Blog

Whilst I don't particularly care much for the institution he writes for, Ben Brogan's blog is probably one of the best British political blogs on the internet.

Which is why I've added him to my blogroll. Also added is the Spectator's Coffee House Blog and Boulton & Co from Sky News.

Alas, blogs I had hitherto respected - such as Iain Dale's Diary and Guido Fawkes - are becoming increasingly difficult for me to read. The former because it lacks incisive analysis and sounds far too often like the sort of razor-sharp political analysis you'd get at a WI Coffee Morning, and the latter because it is turning into little more than a Labour attack blog (still, Guido is remarkably well written).

Sleazy Peasy

Today, two quotes, juxtaposed.

"So Labour and the Lib Dems have made a pact jointly to hurl sleaze accusations at the Government and Tory MPs. That makes a change ... For Labour, sleaze is a cover to divert attention from the emptiness and obscurity of its somersaulting policies and promises. For the Lib Dems, it is a publicity stunt."

Woodrow Wyatt, Oct 1996

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience."

George Bernard Shaw

Conservatives, take heed. Labour, take stock.