February 2004

Well, the Russian joint forces nuclear exercise reported in these pages is on, but it seems that the weirdness has struck already…story Apparently, a strategic missile submarine which was planned to launch one (or perhaps two) missiles into a test range in Siberia failed to launch. Or perhaps – depending on version – one was…

“Our information suggests that two two-inch blocks of wood were placed beneath the wheels of the trolley to stop it moving. “Apparently loading had just commenced when the trolley crushed the wood and careered downhill.” Mr Crow said there had been claims the workers were not aware that there were colleagues on the line down…

Thanks for the link, The UK Today!

Army employing students in Iraq The Army is paying students to put their degrees on hold and join troops in Iraq as Arabic interpreters. Five students have already been sent to areas under British control and 11 more are in the final stages of preparation, the Ministry of Defence said. Their work includes translating documents…

I’d forgotten this, but how strange! In her column last week, The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee decided to take the piss out of Michael Howard’s “I believe that the people should be big..”. In fact, this is what she came up with: “A Conservative government would be smaller, he warned. “Smaller government, bigger people” is their…

It seems, according to the Independent, that the Americans now believe that the storming of the police station in Fallujah was carried out not by those elusive foreign militants but by Iraqis. I believe that the fight in Fallujah was an event of the first importance, for several reasons. For a start, this was no…

Rybkin Says He Was Abducted Well, I know this is late, but as I covered the Rybkin story we might as well deal with this. Apparently he was kidnapped in Kiev and drugged: “Speaking to reporters in London, Rybkin said he had been lured to Kiev by a false offer to hold peace talks with…

Yahoo! News – CNN Says It Overplayed Dean’s Iowa Scream The US TV network has admitted overemphasising the now notorious “scream” footage of Howard Dean at an Iowa rally. People who believe this sort of thing claim it did for his campaign. No surprises that word got around, though: CNN played the tape on the…

BBC NEWS | Politics | Clampdown call for ‘gangmasters’ Now John Denham, a Home Office minister who resigned over Iraq, is shouting about new legislation on gangmasters. “John Denham says employers of illegal labour should face the seizure of their profits, in the way that drug dealers, can have their assets confiscated.” Right on, but…

qwghlm.co.uk: alastair campbell’s wheel of retribution More from the people who brought you the Blunkett policy wheel.