International

Five stories that have caught my attention this week:

Arundhati Roy faces arrest after speaking out over the ongoing Indian occupation of Kashmir. Over 100 people have died in a government crackdown and millions of Muslim people live under the military rule of a government they do not recognise as legitimate.

The Tasmanian forests are looking safer than before with an immediate benefit being felt.

The French unions may be adopting different tactics in regards to the recent strikes over pensions, as refinery workers protest and strikes seem to be winding down.

On the one hand, internal politics in Israel points to Ehud Barak silently freezing further construction on the occupied territories, but that is only after Associated Press estimated that ground had been broken on 550 houses after the end of the freeze. An early November deadline for the United States to try and keep peace talks going is looming.

...and that early November date coincides with the US mid-term Congressional Elections. This Saturday, two rallies will take place in New York, with Jon Stewart from the Daily Show, leading a call for sanity while America seems to be having a storm in a Tea Party frenzy.

Back Online

Normal service will be resumed soon. We've actually been able to move house (yes!) and wifi is now enabled here.

Lots to catch up on, but tonight it is late and my working day started very early!

Poetry and Not in Motion

It hasn't been a good day. Our tenancy runs out a week on Saturday, but the vendor of the house we are buying doesn't seem willing to move out, which isn't consistent with earlier discussions we had. It may be back to square one soon, and we'll be in very temporary accommodation for a while.

Even on very bad days though, you can have a little lift. My friend Jane Aspinall has been quietly posting on her own blog. She is an excellent poet and it is good to see her online as well! Welcome Jane and I look forward to reading more soon.

Common Campaigning(!)

It is not often you'll see a headline starting with, "Tory MP and Green MP join forces..."

Douglas Carswell is a rare political animal. He is a Conservative who is in favour of Proportional Representation. Both he and Caroline Lucas have both tabled amendments to the AV Referendum Bill to alter the question so that a genuine PR option is available. It makes sense for them to agree on the wording.

Any Lib Dems brave enough to break ranks? Go on... you know you want to.