[safely moored] no shifting this craft

Not easy to see the name but it is "Temporary Insanity".

[har megiddo] the massing of the armies

The map is much clearer at the original site. Click on the map.

Sometimes I want to visit the Valley of Jezreel and sometimes I don't.

Most historical places we visit, we can feel the history right there, for example, Whitby Abbey or some battlefield but when the place we visit is the site of some future event, a cataclysmic event, then it takes on a special significance.

My final novel [of three] is set in this roughly 25 mile by 20 valley and it took some research to try to get authenticity. How can you get authenticity for the end of the world though? For it is on the southern side of the valley that the hill called Har Megiddo or in the Hellenic form Armageddon lies.

At one end is Mt Carmel and Haifa and at the other, the Jordan River and the road to Jerusalem. Here, it is written, the final battle will take place and this valley will be for the massing of the armies against Israel. The hill itself, the "Har" of Megiddo, is run through with passages, a spring and many underground walkways.

It's a mystery in itself and a source of fascination for me. Below are some shots of the valley and the hill.

[the old values] one by one they pass away

Every so often, someone puts up a post which gets under the guard and not for any obvious reason.

Someone once said my views were from a world now long gone. Yes they are - G-d, Queen and country, the C of E, the sanctity of the family and so on. Freedom to run about safely as a child, to have virtually not a care in the world, to open doors for women and to give up your bus seat, home-cooked meals every evening, riding bicycles on the main roads.

Jams has run a post on Sydney Lucas, the WW1 veteran who moved to Australia and died in a retirement resort the equivalent of Cornwall.

When I look at him, I see my father one generation on - that jacket, the medals, the jumper, shirt and tie. That was my father from the second war, even down to the NHS glasses. These sorts of things bring you up short really.

I suppose my own generation is the last with these values forged in a society now truly gone. Will they ever return?

[tale of two ladies] can they arise, phoenix like

First the Bull moose. Among the stories reported by Fox News and Newsweek magazine:

-- She showed up in front of John McCain campaign aides "wearing nothing but a towel."

-- She sent campaign staff on a shopping spree for her family that insiders described as the "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."

-- She was so shockingly ignorant of basic geography that aides prepping her for her single debate realized she didn't know that Africa is a continent and not a country, nor could she identify the countries that comprise North America.

The first is hardly a negative, the second can be adjusted by the GOP if it wants her and the third is a national American trait so if they want, as just said, she can be groomed for the part. There are grounds for it.

She does have brand image and not all of it is bad. If she is seen to grow into the role, she certainly has administrative experience [gubernatorial].

Across the pond, how is Segie faring? It's difficult to get up to date info in English but my rusty French encompasses this:

Ségolène Royal a enfin déclaré qu'elle souhaitait former «la meilleure équipe possible» en rassemblant tous «les les talents du Parti socialiste» (citant au passage Pierre Moscovici ou François Vallini).

In short, she's right in there and following the link back to le Figaro shows that at least she is the front runner. What it says to me, in both cases, is that there is deeply entrenched opposition to both women within their parties, perhaps even more so in that they are women.

On the other hand, they have both seen front line action and understand the process far better than before, something no other candidates can lay claim to.

[falklands] defended by the eu

Just a reminder of how the UK appears in EU eyes

The most serious sidelight in this new constitution seems to be:

The European Union classes the islands as a special overseas territory, subject to EU law in some areas, and eligible for some European funding initiatives. The inclusion of the islands in an appendix to the proposed European Constitution provoked a hostile Argentine response. Its mention is retained in the treaty replacing the abandoned Constitution, the Treaty of Lisbon.

As the UK is now virtually Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the nine formerly English regions, then the defenders of the Falklands are no longer Britain but the EU. Hence the self-determination on the islands and hence Argentina seeing its chance again.

Which forces would come to defend the islands this time? The UK's or the EU's? The latter has been looking for training practice. Their deployments so far, you'll notice, have not yet included former UK overseas dependencies.

However, Liam Fox has warned of the EU incursion, with particular reference to implications for NATO. The good news, if there is any, is that what the EU wants is not necessarily what they're immediately going to get.

[salmond] don't count your chickens

Just shows there is someone more detested than Brown in this local infight. Declaring they'd won even before the poll had closed - really!