Dates, Terrorism, Men and Women

By the way, the date of my first posting isn't without (geeky) significance as people who saw ITV4 tonight may be able to confirm. Come on, fellow geeks, it's not difficult.

Having praised Mr. Blair recently, I must say how pleased I was that the Terrorism Bill proposing such a reduction in personal freedom was defeated in its original form. Things can't be well with the world when The Sun, The Mail and The Express are all supporting the Labour party and Michael Howard is leading the Conservatives in defence of our personal liberties. Did the two parties switch positions for a bet? Anyway, the principled stances of such Blairites as Richard Burden MP (who explained the situation brilliantly last week in an interview on Radio Five Live) in opposing this imposition have kept the extension down to a (barely tolerable) 28 days detention without trial. What's going on? We Brits aren't supposed to give up our hard-won personal freedoms when the forces of anarchy gather at the gate. We'd just be playing into their hands. Let's keep calm and not over-react. And, on the subject of the police recommending 90 days' detention, I refer you to the comments of Mandy Rice Davies: "Well, he would, wouldn't he?" Perhaps the PM should take the advice he receives with a pinch of salt after the WOMD incident...

I may be the last single person to do this but I finally read 'Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus' (by John Gray) this weekend, after yet another female friend recommended it to me. Normally self-help books are anathema to me, but I must admit that this one is tolerable and helps explain the (stereotypical) differences in preferences between the genders such as why many women want to talk things over and why many men don't want to do the same. Having said that, it is a bit repetitive and, like most of these over-hyped books, makes a lot of fuss about a limited amount of content which could be summarized on one side of a postcard. But, maybe that's too Martian a way to view it? Anyway, I'll let you know if it pays off! One minor point: the edition I bought (published by Element in the UK) was riddled with irritating typos, erroneous cross-references and incorrect hyphen-ation (sic).

And finally, as Sir Alastair Burnett used to say, I can't recommend 'The West Wing' Season Five DVDs highly enough. As ever, a great ensemble piece, with some really tough times to face for the President (wouldn't you like to see an election between Jed Bartlett and '24''s David Palmer?) There's no quiet life for his supporting cast, either, with C.J. Cregg getting some more great storylines, the First Lady as usual demonstrating that she has her own opinions and Donna finally getting a bit more independence. Add the usual great showings from Charlie, Leo, Josh, Toby and Will to superb guest appearances by the President's daughters, Nancy & Fitz and Mallory and you'll hardly notice that Sam's gone. Hope I get Season Six for Christmas!