Obviously blogging is so exhausting, I needed a year off.

Stumbling around the house at 7am the other morning watching BBC Breakfast, I caught a news report on some protesters attempting to stop a new road being built. Some had climbed into trees, Friends of the Earth were standing quietly out of the way being summarily ignored by everyone, but a group of rowdy Countryside Alliance types were stamping their green wellies and waving signs. One of which read - and I jest not - "Down with this sort of THING!"

This is why we lost our Empire.

If you'd like to reassure yourself that England is not in fact The Worst Country In The World... Ever!, then go to www.mediamatters.org and read what the Republican Right have to say for themselves. Anne Coulter's assertions, such as that "it would be fun to nuke North Korea", will guarantee you a distracting shudder.