[bryan appleyard] of bournemouth, packaging & women

Pretty women in politics

I keep getting pulled back to this site, like to a black hole and no doubt you have the same problem in varying degrees. Appleyard’s Bournemouth take: Dazed by the party conference coverage, I am only hearing about one word in ten. And - here's the weird thing - it's always the same word! Package! Everybody keeps saying 'package'! And his piece on women in politics today: It's a very Guardian thing not even to consider the one possibility that would threaten their own perspective. In this case, it does not occur … that perhaps women don't want to go into politics. Why should they? They'd only be told to talk about Paxman's Package.

[eu] reasons to get out now

I love it when someone expresses complex ideas in ultra-simplistic terms for the intellectually impaired such as myself. Serf's looking at the EU today from yet another angle: I thought I would distil the argument down into numbers: The most populous Member States received nearly two-thirds of the funds: €14.8 billion went to Spain, €13.6 billion to France, €x.xx billion to Germany, €x.xx billion to Italy and €x.xx billion to the United Kingdom. [Can't steal the man's thunder]

[conference] cameron speech later today

... And I want to give you another reason why I'm not prepared to make irresponsible tax cut promises. It's a vital reason, because the NHS is vitally important to every family in this country. It certainly is to mine. I believe that the creation of the NHS is one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century. I always believed this. When your family relies on the NHS all the time - day after day, night after night - you know how precious it is. So for me, it's not just a question of saying the NHS is safe in my hands. My family is so often in the hands of the NHS. So I want them to be safe there ... [David Cameron]

[quiz] do you know your countries

Each of the descriptions below refers to a country. Which country? Answers are at the end - don't peek!

1 It’s mainly desert and grassland, with tropical rainforest in the north - a large country with a small population and a dry sense of humour. One of its animals is the quokka. People mainly live in two cities.

The other nine are here.

[around the blogs] what the bloggers are saying

Today will be a Blog Roundup instead of a focus on one issue. Let’s start with Bryan:

Bryan Appleyard on gun control: Mark Steyn pointed out that there were large areas of America that were burglar free simply because most householders possessed guns. Here, of course, burglaries happen all the time and our wondrously rude and inept police force can't be bothered to do anything about them …But the truth is, whatever law and order benefits flow from US gun ownership are vastly outweighed by the routine horrors perpetrated in a land flooded with firearms, not to mention the thousands of accidental shootings that happen annually.

More blog-round-up here.

[hillary on webb] he just loves women … believe me

Women? Best soldiers in the world...

Hillary the Phoenix endorsed James Webb yesterday in a high profile appearance at a fundraising lunch in Old Town Alexandria, blunting Allen’s criticism of him, re his past attitude towards women in the military. Allen himself has had problems with racial sensitivity. Clinton told reporters: "I've watched and analyzed what Jim Webb has done when he was in the Pentagon, opening up positions - thousands of them - to women when previously they had not been available. We have women serving with valor and distinction because the battlefield has changed." Well that’s all right then. Hillary has spoken and Va. is Webb's. Or not.