A quick quickie.

The French oil tanker has disappeared off the news cycle with the Yemenese(?) authorities investigating the attack whilst the French cry terrorism; Theresa May would appear to fancy quotas to ensure the survival of the conservatives; another shooting victim in Maryland; and a student is suing OCR for £100,000 over his A-level results.

Rating - 3

I'm now heading off to uni; Ollie's already there, so I doubt there will be any posts over the next week. Besides, Ollie can't get on the network until I bring him a network adapter :o)

First earthquakes, now meteors – presenting the Midlands; Britain’s very own Hollywood.

Just a quickie today, since packing is too upon me (I’m more organized than Ollie, so I start a day earlier). World news leads with the alleged ramming of a French oil tanker off Yemen; terrorism currently can’t be ruled out. In the UK, Duncan Smith is attempting to survive against further attacks on his leadership – first David Mellor and now Ken Clarke. At least they can always squash him if things don’t work out at the conference. Finally, vindication. A piece in today’s Sunday Times (not linked to because of a 5 minute registration that is needed and I don’t have time for right now) confirms that Euan Blair is one of the students affected by the A-level remarking; specifically his French mark, where his overall grade was a C, not the B he needed. The article does make clear that he was not appealing against the grade, so it seems he’s going to stay at Bristol. But, continuing on from yesterday, what of the political knock on that would occur were his grades to go up? No doubt it will be embarrassing, but it seems as though Mr Blair has already smoothed out the path – one source (that I have forgotten) claims that his speech whilst on an out and about in Blackpool concerning the remark was the first time in 3 years that he has directly said “I’m sorry.”

Rating – 2.75; details still coming in on the oil tanker, no doubt there will be plenty of conspiracies to report on tomorrow.

As you can imagine, I am a little short of time on this, the eve of my grand departure to university... I still have to pack! Therefore, in order of importance: Smoker wins $18bn damages (as if they aren't going to get that reduced);Pravda a little concerned at Latvian elections; and... frankly, not much else. A worthy 2.

I’m not happy. They’ve stopped showing Law and Order to find a place for a repeat of the pilot episode of The Shield. Law and Order is infinitely superior. Hmph. They’re obviously Republicans; hence I respond with “Social Insecurity” – a link shamelessly taken from OxBlog.

Iraq has started a whirlwind diplomatic tour of the Middle East in the next round of Iraqi ping pong; Lord Archer is facing trouble over his Prison Diaries (exclusively serialised in – where else – the Daily Mail, despite their absolute hatred of the man) and Iain Duncan Smith is being knocked about from all sides prior to the Tory conference next week. In other words, little happened today.

Bristol University has told its students not to talk about Euan Blair, who has just started his Ancient History course. This follows Oxford telling students not to talk about Chelsea Clinton; Harvard about Natalie Portman, St Andrew’s about Prince William etc. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what would happen if you did. Whilst Bristol says it “could lead to the termination of a student’s course” I think that this would be nothing compared to the notoriety that would be achieved from grassing on Euan. Alas, I fear not everyone holds such a code of honour, and the prospect of money would easily sway them – but then if we’re willing (or indeed wanting) to read about it, does this not reflect badly on us as whole? I’m particularly curios about this warning as a few of my friends have just started their courses at Bristol, and mentioning no names, one (Fraser) is quite the expert of spreading gossip – that is usually made up. I look forward to hearing about Euan’s imaginary exploits.

Of course, Euan going to university offers other interesting questions. I’ve already covered the possibility that he may be one of the students who have lost their place at their first choice university (Trinity College, Oxford in his case) through the A-level debacle. But more questions have appeared. Will the burden of tuition fees and rent be overbearing to his parents? After all, it was Tony Blair who introduced them. I suspect not- with a combined income of around £500,000 not only are the Blairs easily over the upper threshold of the means tested allowance (something around £30,000) but as was reported by various dairies in the broadsheets, Euan earned some extra cash by working at Hackett over the summer. I somehow doubt that Euan is will be allowed to end up in the average student debt of around £10,000 (according to the NUS), but at the same time, would the knowledge that this is happening to many of his peers bring some form of reassessment on higher education funding from the Labour Party – or at the least Mr Blair himself? After all, Will Straw, president of OUSU and son of the Foreign Secretary, is vehemently against tuition fees, and the multitude of protests and commentary over the last four years since their introduction suggest that at least there is something not quite perfect with the plan. And yet at the same time we’re told that British universities face crucial funding crises in the next decade. As I said – interesting questions.

Rating – 2.5

OJ has covered Richard Reid very well in his column for the day, so I shall put that issue to one side and head off across the globe to Kashmir, which whilst thought to harbour Al Qaeda terrorists, may not do so much longer as both India and Pakistan are testing missiles that are presumably intended for use in the region.

As the Pakistani Information Minister (admittedly, not the most reliable source in the world) said, "India is trying to go into an arms race". He neglected to mention that Pakistan was definitely up for one of them, and that the two sides considered it the cricket match to end all cricket matches. Seriously, though, I find it very concerning that whilst everyone talks about Iraq in hushed whispers - with prophecies of doom (not least from myself) and talk of nuclear war, chemical weapons, biological weapons, you name it, it'll drop on you - we simultaneously ignore the startlingly advanced situation that has emerged between these two nations. A retired Pakistani general talked of the 'tit-for-tat' warfare being undertaken on both sides, and warned, quite rightly, that if it escalates then it can only end in all-out war.

Closer to home, the offices of Sinn Fein were raided today in the closing stages of an operation to investigate the activities of the party, which is, of course, headed by former terrorists in Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. "The arrest of the unnamed man was said to have huge implications for the peace process," said the Belfast Telegraph. We will have to wait and see, but I, personally, think this might provoke a sectarian reaction in the coming weeks.

Finally, a little sporting news, and the man with the best name in tennis has defeated Lleyton Hewitt. Dahlia Lithwick has nothing on Paradorn Srichaphan. Today receives a 4 from myself, for the combined effect of the stories covering Richard Reid, the missile testing and more trouble in Northern Ireland.

Papa Smurf?

So Richard Reid pleaded guilty to all the charges against him. That was a bit easy, wasn’t it? But in truth it was probably the best outcome, for all concerned. Reid has the possibility of getting out of jail in his lifetime, whilst the US government is not faced with another messy court case trying to prove links between Reid and al-Q’aeda. Certainly, this is the case with Zacarias Moussaoui, believed to be the 20th hijacker from September 11th. Dahlia Lithwick (a curiously compelling name) has been keeping tabs on the case in her excellent dispatches in the Jurisprudence column on Slate – dispatches filed as the case goes on, hence the old link. Of course, the feds’ case is not helped by accidently giving him access to classified files relating to national security. Apparently, it took days to search his cell. What, is he incarcerated at the Hilton? Or did they not have a secure file tagging system in place?

Whilst we’re on the issue, whatever happened to the prisoners at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay? Are they still there?

Tomlinson has narrowed down the exact units that are to be remarked as the A-level fiasco approaches the one month mark. All three of my (and Ollie’s as well) history modules are listed, and since I’m still challenging my coursework mark, I await the outcome with interest. Over 91000 (!) candidates are affected, even after the investigation has been scaled back. The deadline is in 11 days. I’ll keep you up to date with progress at my end of the action.

Official TGIF Link of the Week (a new addition wherein I add another stupid link because, um, it’s Friday): Trainee dishwasher pleads guilty to $80 million identity fraud.

Rating – 3.5; the Reid case seems to have made at least some attempt of closure within the wider problems of prosecuting terrorism; but at the same time he is a peripheral figure to al-Qaeda, which is why the rating is not substantially higher than the past few days.

And to think, I was all ready to lead with the joke. Instead, I present the damning evidence that Prince Charles is Henry Raddick!

I was actually quite a fan of Napster. It allowed me to pick up the odd song that was impossible to find (Afternoon Delight by the Starland Vocal Band, anyone?) and a few real treats, such as an acoustic version of 3am that I have never found anywhere else. But most of all, I used it to test new songs before I went and bought the album. Of course, not everyone else did. Part of the appeal of Napster was its ease of use and – until the time when it was all but dead – the lack of viruses and fake files. Using it felt like some kind of privilege. Now of course, KaZaA, Hotline and the rest are used unabashedly for downloading illegal content (songs, games, software and anything else that, er, floats your boat), an attitude that was in the minority on Napster. File-sharing is now an ugly business where even the software disrupts your computer – the spyware and adware on KaZaA necessitates two versions, the full and ‘Lite’. To be honest, I’m not sure where Digital Download Week is going to take the movement; I sincerely doubt that it will be in the right direction. They started off badly, by unwittingly disabling under 18’s from accessing the content (and where would their biggest demographic be?), and then by underestimating demand.

This is another bugbear of mine. In recent weeks, Nectar – a large multi-branded reward card for our non-British reader(s) – underestimated the demand for online registration after they offered a 100 point bonus for those doing so (equivalent to £50 spent in Sainsbury’s) and previously the Public Records Office were so unprepared for the demand for an online version of the 1901 census, that it took them eight months to sort it out. Honestly. It’s not as if the internet is a new concept, and despite pathetically low levels of broadbrand penetration in the UK (a future rant), I believe that nearly all people have access to the internet; even if not at home. Isn’t it about time this was recognised? There is nothing more frustrating than something being promised and not delivered – BT are you listening?

In other news – Bill Clinton was all over the British front pages, more Iraqi ping pong and Peter Gabriel is having teething problems with his latest tour. Serves him right for having such long introductions that I have to check if I have the speakers on mute or not.

Rating – 3

Some people might think the news that scientists have found the world's funniest joke is of great importance. However, whilst I thought it a reasonable joke, Jeremy Paxman sounded unimpressed in his Newsnight newsletter. If you don't currently receive this email from Paxman and co at Newsnight, I recommend you do - click here to sign up. If only for the superior quality jokes Paxman comes up with.

Some readers (assuming we actually have any) may know that I am a Peter Gabriel fan, and a company he founded - OD2 - is in the middle of offering Digital Download Day (which is actually a whole week). This venture, exclusively for British and Irish visitors, is an attempt to strike back against the Napster phenomenon (to which I was always firmly opposed) by offering a whole week of 'free' music downloads from a selection of over 100,000 tracks. In actuality, 500 download 'credits' costs you £5, but that seems a fair enough price to pay. Peter Gabriel, who led the way last month by making the entire contents of his new album available for download, is at the forefront of the music industry once again (and the album's good, too).

In other news, Hurricane Lili took a savage swipe at the Gulf Coast though not as bad as was first feared. There was a gulf dividing opinion in the UN security committee over the issue of weapons inspections in the other Gulf. Oh, and I scored 4 on the BBC's quiz over this week's news, which was a little disappointing, though it is one more than I give today - a standard 3.

Spit or Swallow? My parents always told me it was rude to do so in public.

The possibly nuclear ping pong ball of doom – also known as ‘the Iraq issue’ – took another step in another direction as Bush today possibly might have maybe got Congress to support him in a war against Iraq. At the same time, the US wants to stop UN weapons inspectors going back into Iraq, because they don’t have a tough enough mandate. To me, there seems to be something wrong here. Iraq has called America’s bluff on the use of the UN, and has legitimately won this round. No doubt, were they to go back into Iraq they would find little or no evidence of the CBN weapons that keep getting mentioned. Even with a tougher remit, I doubt they would find the evidence they’re looking for. At the same time, I find Bush’s willingness to take back all the moves he had made towards multilateral action involving the UN just because it doesn’t suit the US a petty and pathetic move. Unfortunately I also think they didn’t have much of a choice. I don’t think I’m the only one not happy with these actions. Colin Powell’s briefing that caught the end of Newsnight yesterday showed a man who seemed to be ill at ease toeing the party line.

Mike Tomlinson finally came out with the list of subjects and exam boards that needed regrading. Of course, he can’t say which modules need to be remarked. That just wouldn’t do, especially with this year’s application deadlines fast approaching. Indeed, the final day for regarding is October 15, the same day for the Oxbridge, vets and medics deadline with UCAS. Genius! No one can put an exact figure on the number that need regarding, but we’re definitely talking in the tens of thousands. Certainly my subject came up on the list – OCR History – so we’ll see where this now takes us.

Finally, Bill Clinton has still got it. Boy, to have that charisma. I await the snark from Ollie...

Rating – 3. Mainly to keep the average, but also because little happened today.

One of them changes his name to Haddock (see OJ, yesterday), another goes swimming off Blackpool in October. And they're still going to win the next election by a mile. *Sigh*.

Today's events at the Labour Party Conference were largely dominated by Bill Clinton, who spoke well, but sadly occasionally on topics of which he has very little knowledge. Quite why Bill found it necessary to sledge the Tories, despite - as Andrew Marr said - not knowing much about British politics even with the 'best will in the world', is uncertain. Blair, no doubt, definitely considered him the best Will in the world, as he held the entire conference in his grasp, and Blair himself got a surprise standing ovation even introducing him. But still, one nagging doubt remains. I can't see Blair going to America and poking fun at the Republicans. He simply doesn't know enough about the American political scene. I'm not being pro-Conservative here (honestly), as frankly they need to be taken to the cleaners by someone - just not an ex-American President.

One of Clinton's main themes was urging the Western World to 'call Saddam's bluff', and George W Bush received a boost this afternoon after a congressional resolution was passed allowing him to use 'appropriate' force in any conflict with Iraq. The resolution still has to see the light of day in the Senate, but is a step forward for Bush.

Well, in all fairness nothing of great world interest has happened today in my humble opinion. I shall dip as far down as a 2 - Labour Party conferences just don't do it for me.

First of all, as aforementioned, this post will be for Tuesday as I was away all day yesterday and could not get one in on time (for a change).

So yes, we are back! I was at least concentrating on Dayorama during my little jaunt up North, and I listened with great interest to Tony Blair's speech on the radio. Not only did I think his speech was superbly polished, carefully thought through and well tailored to his audience (and I'm Conservative if anything), but listening on the radio removes the hand movements which so distracted OJ (see right for his opinion and relevant links). Now, to be perfectly honest, I think Tony Blair is a very good Prime Minister. He gives off the right aura - I know how stupid that probably sounds, but he does! My father, who is highly Conservative but often prefers to keep it quiet for fear of public ridicule, points out that Blair only looks so good because he has gone so conservative (with a small c) that the Conservatives are now lost. As someone just this minute said on the television at the Labour Conference, 'Labour have gone further down the Tory road than the Tories would ever have dared'. Exactly.

My problem is that the Conservatives are doing nothing, absolutely nothing, to hit back at Labour. True, we have their conference next week, but I'm still annoyed that the Opposition is virtually invisible (again, my father and I debated this at length during yesterday's car journey, which is a good thing, because I sound completely irrational usually until he argues back and I get to think again. Now I just sound fairly irrational.) Duncan Smith is widely recognised as being unrecognisable, and I have not a clue what the Conservative policy on say, Education, is, despite the recent A level furore. My father (in his usual wisdom) argues that this is because Labour would simply steal any good pieces of Tory policy in time for the next election if they released it now, leaving the Tories absolutely stuffed, but I would at least like to see the Tories shout Labour down over it and give us a few broad brushstrokes of what they would do. Who is the Conservative education spokesman? Anyone?

As it happens, I don't think Estelle Morris deserves the blame she is getting from some quarters (OJ) for the results fiasco. I think the right person got the bullet, and that chopping and changing Education Minister every few seconds can only hinder, rather than help, the situation. I have no idea how to resolve the situation, however.

Finally, on the way back last night, Radio 4 reported that Iraq had agreed to let weapons inspectors back. I was reading a copy of John Colville's Downing Street Diaries (he was a personal secretary to Chamberlain and Churchill during WWII) that I found in a second-hand bookshop in Didsbury at the time, and this passage, from his entry for New Year's Eve 1939, seems particularly relevant:
'Everybody is talking gaily about a changing world, a new social order, a complete revolution of national and international ideals; but do they realise what effect all this, if it comes to pass, will have upon them personally? It is easy to sit in the warmth, beautifully dressed, after an enormous meal, and talk academically about the inevitability of change... but it may be less easy to accommodate oneself to the grimness of reality.'
My thoughts exactly. Take care, Bush, Blair and co. Take great care. Today receives a 3 (I have succumbed to temptation - and OJ - and dropped the decimal points I used to use for simplicity's sake).

Austin Haddock – international man of fish.

We’re back and more purple than ever! It’s a new month, and so after a 3 week or so sabbatical (it’s the new age economy you see, we’ve been doing the blitz of investment banks and what’s that you say? Cocktails and a sauna in a Devon hotel? Piffle!) I’m rating the day!

Top of the news would be Blair’s speech at the Labour conference in Blackpool. To be honest, there was little surprise in what he said – PFI, Saddam, Euro etc. – but more in how he said it. Over the last few months, it seems that Blair has got his oratorical kick back. I have always rated him as a speaker; whilst he’s far from the best (I always enjoyed listening to Hague more, for instance) he is a lot better than Straw, Morris or Prescott. The most irritating feature of Blair’s speeches is invariably his hand movements. Not that he doesn’t do them, which would be a sin, rather that he only has two or three repetitive motions. Rory Bremner has got his impression down so well that I now cannot watch Blair without thinking he’s Bremner. That said, what with making the case for fighting Saddam, attempting (if not succeeding) to bring his party and the unions into line over funding for public services and now today’s speech, he seems to have been reinvigorated. I only hope that Duncan Smith can rise to the challenge in the next few weeks and start to prove himself as a capable leader of the Tories – I’m wavering at the moment.

Today was also meant to be the day that the Tomlinson report confirmed which modules, subjects and boards were going to be remarked, due to the A-level cock up that has arisen over the last three weeks. I’ll make it quite clear now that I have a vested interest here, as I am one of those affected by whatever has transpired, although thankfully it did not matter in the greater scheme of things. Unfortunately, I do have friends who were. I’m perfectly happy to let Tomlinson take the extra day just to be sure – no doubt I would have done – but I’m not happy that Estelle Morris seems to have retained her position at the expense of the head of the QCA, Sir William Stubbs. In fact, every time I hear Ms Morris’ whiny, nasal voice explaining what has happened, I wish that the real truth – whatever that is – will eventually triumph and indict her. I’m also angry that David Blunkett, who was the Education Secretary who introduced “Curriculum 2000” has not featured at all in the witch-hunt, because he has an awful lot to answer for as well. Finally of interest concerning both this and the point above is Blair’s sympathy towards the students affected by the fiasco. Now, if you can, you will remember that his son, Euan missed his conditional place at Trinity College, Oxford by only a grade (and subsequently took up his insurance place at Bristol). It is rare that someone who gets an Oxford place doesn’t eventually get the grades; this year there’s far more students who have missed their place at university by a grade than usual, and Blair is sympathetic to their plight. Anyone want to take bets that Euan was one of those affected? Now, that would be interesting…

Rating – 3. Not particularly interesting in the big wide world.