[scotland] devolving into a caledonian twilight

Monty, at This Scepter’d Isle, mentions the extraordinary comments of Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, who crossed the Rubicon: to tell his flock he would be happy to see full independence for Scotland. He ... offers his vision of an independent Scotland by pointing to Denmark and Ireland as examples of what small independent nations can achieve. Seems to me the Scots can’t have it both ways. If they go independent, what are their exports? There’s goodwill from Europe but this won’t put food into the bairns’ mouths. Sending Edward’s army home to think again also does not appear to be forward thinking.

[destruction] now it's a wind farm

Always destruction. Why must they do this? But I get ahead of myself. Daily Propaganda has this shocker today: Plans are afoot to build the world's largest wind farm in the Outer Hebrides. 'Great!' some people would claim - the Outer Hebrides are the windiest place in the UK and hardly anyone lives there - making them one of the more attractive places to put a wind farm. They plan on spending £300 million on an under-sea cable, and another £500m on the farm itself. But unfortunately, the site chosen for the construction is Blanket Bog - a type of rich peat land, which absorbs up to 81 grams of carbon every year per square metre. Read more here.

[la moto] roule sur les traces de l'auto

La BMW G650 Xchallenge

Aides à la conduite, respect de l'environnement, affirmation du style et création de niches, l'industrie motocycliste présente ce week-end à l'Intermot une collection 2007 inspirée de l'automobile. Moyen de transport individuel par excellence, le deux-roues motorisé n'en obéit pas moins à des règles de circulation qui le placent sur un pied d'égalité avec l'automobile. Suivez.

[congress today] mann and ornstein - summarized comments

Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute have a new book "The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track." Mann: Partisanship particularly increased after the 1994 elections and … now it is tribal warfare. The consequences are deadly serious. Party and ideology routinely trump institutional interests and responsibilities. The results: No serious deliberation. No meaningful oversight of the executive. A culture of corruption and grievously flawed policy formulation and implementation. Read more here.

[express poll] you got it right, general

Sunday Express poll: Sir Richard Dannatt’s stance has won the immediate support of the families of soldiers killed in Iraq.

A new poll reveals 71 per cent of Britons think Sir Richard was right to warn that the continued presence of British troops is making the security crisis in Iraq worse and 74 per cent agree with Sir Richard that British soldiers should leave Iraq “some time soon”.

57 per cent agree that Muslim extremists are exploiting a “moral vacuum” in Britain to undermine our way of life and 44 per cent want to see a greater role for the British Army in combating Islamic terrorism.

Lord David Ramsbotham, adjutant general of the army during the first Gulf War said: “I don’t think Sir Richard should be sacked. The point he has made quite rightly and strongly is that if the Army continues to be hammered into the ground, there won’t be an Army in five to 10 years.”

For what it's worth, this blog concurs with these findings.

[china] threat to the world

The piece about the threat China poses for the world is finally done. I've been watching China for some years with a bit of a ho-hum attitude but to actually pull the major ideas together today and look at them in context, in one short 17 page document, was - well - disquietening. I've now sent the piece to Gates of Vienna and I await their pleasure as to whether they'll use it or not. If not, I'll post it tomorrow myself, Monday, on this site. It might be worth a glance.