Tony Blair Says Full Gay Equality Is Coming to America — and Clashes With the Pope:

Wrapped into this little interview was the paradox – and the tragedy – of Tony Blair. When he chose to fight on liberal issues, he was passionate, and brilliant. But he did it only a few times – and he willingly suspended these, his most impressive and admirable instincts, to embark on a bloody barn-dance with the worst President in living memory. Why?

Last week John Mortimer, one of my favourite writers and a famous QC, also died. He was something of a character – the kind of rebel-within-the-establishment that the British produce from time to time and which make the world a cheerful place.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_born_in_the_sky

Having a child born next to you is going to do nothing for jet-lag. It might, however, lead one to reflect on the wonder of life.

It’s the same technique used by the singer KT Tunstall and her band, and there are various demonstrations of the “Wee Bastard Pedal” as she calls it at all the usual places on the Net.

Some of the the music created through the the use of loops created and combined live makes my jaw drop in true admiration. To layer simplicity upon simplicity until the complex results, and to make the many layers harmonious, tuneful and not boring demonstrates a level of musical genius beyond my comprehension, but not my appreciation.

Of course, much music is created these days through the use of loops recorded by others combined in a studio using computers rather than musical instruments. I have no similar admiration for such products.

Facts have become easier to check, and inconsistencies easier to display. And while the internet of a few years ago was a rather more boring place, a video is worth ten thousand words.

So, candidates of the future, do not be tempted to tell a small, convenient lies to get you through a single speech or debate, because someone, somewhere with video editing software and far too much time will be ready and waiting.

In the interests of non-partisanship, I offer the examples of clips featuring McCain, Obama and Clinton, whose ‘sniper fire‘ – um – ‘blip‘ became national news, of course. Which in turn prompted this spoof.

And if you are going to have to lie, dear candidate, just remember that unless you are 100% consistent, someone is going to point it out. And while the cable news channels are going to tire of such things, YouTube won’t.

An editor for the Telegraph, Roger Highfield, recently volunteered to allow a UK researcher to shut off the speech center of his brain with a high-powered magnetic pulse.