A Pinter Peace Polemic

I've just finished watching Harold Pinter's speech in acceptance of the Nobel Pirze for Literature. He didn't make it to Stockholm but did leave hospital for long enough to record the hour-long monologue which delivered incisive comments on Bush, Blair, post-1945 US policy and the state of mass-illusion in western society. If you missed the broadcast, follow this link to Channel 4 television's Pinter page where an online transcript will be posted shortly.

Britain's traditional right-wingers now have a generational shift with new champion David Cameron. His winning the Conservative leadership race was hardly unexpected but the novelty of a new opponent facing Blair over the dispatch box today was still cause for curiousity. Blair himself seemed more rattled by the lack of confrontation than by the verbal sparring he got from Cameron's predeccesor, Micheal Howard. He won't get my vote but I hope a change of face and attitude might start ruffling the feathers of this government's Blair-faced complacency.

Cameron may well prove a match for the now beleagured Blair, but whether he'd come out as well against Gordon Brown remains to be seem. With all the signs of a severe economic downturn in the wind, Brown's legacy as chancellor may be sorely tested anyway. If New Labour and Modern Conservatism can balance each other out, the stage may be set for Liberal Democrats to increase their strength. Here's hoping.

In one of the oddest twists to the endless debate on cannabis legality, it seems home secretary Charles Clarke reckons that 500 joints worth counts as "personal supply". I decline to comment save to say that it also sounds like a go-ahead for a small herb garden too. Cameron would be wise to keep mum on this one! More on that suject here as always.

Later.

Later.