Straw's mask slips; much better if EU run by chaps like him without any scrutiny.

Petition for release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan

"The debate over American decline is missing the point. All this talk about projecting U.S. power abroad means nothing if we can't fix our severe problems at home."

…in a few easy steps.

They will never learn!

DWJ on her own life and writing. Includes reminiscences of Tolkien.

"How is the current situation when amoral third parties can profit so massively from wholly illegal behaviour in any way acceptable? Answer me that and I’ll give you a free book."

Former foreign minister Nicos Rolandis (as usual) speaks sense; (as usual) nobody will listen.

"IVF is a lot of things. It’s highly political, as I’ve tried to illustrate. It’s unpleasant, tiring and time-consuming. It’s bloody expensive. In all these respects, it’s perhaps not bad practice for the down-sides of parenthood."

Read to the end.

How the Supreme Court ended democracy in America in 2010. (I summarise.)

Commissioner Malmström (who knows a thing or two about this) explains how to get your foot in the door in the EU.

He became dictator, rather briefly, 20 years ago aged 25. What is he doing now?

Being an Irish reader of sf and fantasy. "The product of one of history's many intertidal zones, I love a literature to which I'm largely invisible."

I've read three of these (Fun Home, The Forgotten and QC), and loved them, so the others go on my list!

"Today, Aghdam is an extraordinary place. Once a bustling Azeri town, it is now nothing but ruins for as far as the eye can see. But what the eye can't see is that this long-frozen front-line is also now part of the global struggle waged between Israel and its enemies."

Brilliant account of the $19,500 bill for an 1866 telegram to Napoleon III (which in fact was not delivered to him).

Written a month ago (a geological era in internet time) but, after last four weeks of Republican self-destruction, looks more rather than less relevant!

Why the open web will wither and Facebook-like walled gardens have won.

Yet another example of Wikipedia's obsession with process rather than actual accuracy of content.

I wonder if this is replicable elsewhere? Probably too expensive for any campaign not in the US...

From the January 2012 Nevil Shute newsletter.

I love Korčula.

I quite like the idea of skills tests for presidential candidates. (Though in this case, of course, it is a proxy for acceptability to the Russians.)

#fb That will be fun, won't it!

Ten brilliant pieces.

List of comics created by women - to go through carefully.

One of the UK's best journalists interviews one of the UK's best politicians.

Surveying the options.