Well, Marrakech, The Red City is done and done. The first copies turned up last week and are looking mighty fine, I just hope the weather stays that way for the launch next Tuesday. Also in, Virgin have decided to take on my Oliver Stone book! Brilliant news but I'm full of trepidation. I just hope I can do the subject justice.

The five economic tests to judge the suitability of Britain's entry into the euro-zone are scarcely the stuff of popular thrillers (unlikely the Forsyth novel The Fourth Protocol would have been very popular had it been about 'impact on the financial services industry') but they are an important part of Gordon Brown's delaying tactics (themselves born of some dark primordial dislike of the single currency) and so deserve to be perpetuated mainly so that people don't drift about for a year and a half, like I did, trying to find out what the bloody things are:

"As the Chancellor said in his October 1997 statement, the Five Economic Tests will define whether a clear and unambiguous case can be made. The Five Tests are:

* sustainable CONVERGENCE between Britain and the economies of a single currency;
* whether there is sufficient FLEXIBILITY to cope with economic change;
* the effect on INVESTMENT;
* the impact on our FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY; and
* whether it is good for EMPLOYMENT."


The Chancellor will present the Government's statement on the assessment on the euro on Monday 9 June. The Government's preliminary and technical analysis supporting the five tests assessment and comprising 18 supporting studies will be published alongside the assessment."

So, Al Jazeera turns out to have been a cover for Iraqi spies? Yes. It's amazing how effective an intelligence network can be if you expel its members. Still, at least the information comes from the ever reliable documents rescued from a burnt out building. Have heard reports that this Christian Science monitor report has been disproved... To be confirmed...

Wow. The truly amazing thing about the avalanche of depressing news hitting the world at the moment is how it comes from all angles. The chest-beating neanderthal 'patriots' trumpeting a war on Iraq that, in the most positive light, is a grubby piece of belated liberation unavoidably tinged with partisan political interest. The nightmarish quagmire of Palestinian-Israeli affairs. The empty-headed infantilism of Western mass-culture. But for now, observe a fresh offensive from the increasingly arrogant and ugly Labour party with this storming assertion from despicable troglodyte Charles Clarke. Now I admit, I have a vested interest, and I don't intend to get bogged down in a justification of medieval history (suffice to point out that only THE WHOLE OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION depends on knowledge of its past) but for the government's voice on education to say this? The chancellor justifying budget cuts or Industrial minister commenting on a bias against science at university? I'd understand (but still disagree), but the man who overlooks the whole higher education process? The icing on the cake is the interpretation of his statement, issued by the "Department for Education and Skills" and, I can only imagine, intended to smooth over his inflammatory words. And this great conciliatory gesture?

"The secretary of state was basically getting at the fact that universities exist to enable the British economy and society to deal with the challenges posed by the increasingly rapid process of global change."

So just as schools exist solely as processing machines for the political benefit of the league tables so higher education is reduced to a tool for the economy. I guess Mill was wrong, it is better to be a pig satisfied.

Went to see a gig by this mad fellow last night. Bob Log III, a sort of electro-blues one-man-band who looks like Evil Knieval/thin jumpsuit elvis wearing a flight helmet with a telephone receiver glued on the front. Hectic bluesy surf guitar mixed up with gimmicks such as playing "the fastest song in the world" blind folded and the infamous boob scotch. Always good to get out and hear some live music, especially when you're paying as little as 7GBP (less than the cover for most clubs) for an 'authentic' smoky London dive and three quality acts.

Mad as a bucket of spiders this, I'm having a poke around for a set of digital scales for the fantastic company I work for and settle for this site, about five down the google list. And, of course, being an internet retailer of weighing equipment, it has an online streaming radio station of dub and reggae! I'm not complaining, I think it would be great if more po-faced sites had this kind of esoteric music policy.

First time in a while I've happened across an article on the web that made me think. Free speech is such an important right to most liberals, but it's fairly unnerving to find oneself on the same side as Nike - nemesis of casual-no-logo-reading lefties such as myself. The ACLU rep makes an excellent point, referring to the wealth of material available on the sweatshop debate and the idea of a federal mandate of truth is, frankly scary. Yes corporations have a responsibility but so do customers and investors. They shouldn't become lazy and expect to be spoon-fed the truth. I think also of those investors who took Enron's financial reports at face value.There's no better safeguard, in these cases, than one's own diligence.