It's the Tory's turn this next seven days.. the Party Faithful are gathering in Bournemouth for their annual convention.. the first for David Cameron..
It will be important for David to lay out some concrete plans for his Party.
Even considering a General Election is still three years away, and that will mean at least two years of Labour under a new leader, it is obliged of David, as the new Conservative leader, to give his Party a sense of direction.. of purpose... Of how he plans to effect a swing in public opinion away from whomever takes over from Tony next year, towards his vision for the future of this country.
He'll have to make his view plain on the commitment our forces have in the Middle East, and how he will deal both with the US, and the EU.. He'll also have to take a stance on internal issues, such as the National Health Service, and Socisl Services in general.
It's doubtful he'll lay out many financial plans, with the volotile economic situation worldwide, but he'll need to present a realistic extrapolation on what he would like to see..
This is the grandstand David needs to sell himself to the country, before Gordon Brown takes over..
He'd best make the most of it..

One has taken a couple of days to digest George's admission that there was a report presented to him, that would indicate the Western presence in the Middle East is indeed sparking the initiative of Muslim youths to take the martyrs pledge..
What is surprising is not that the report existed, but that it had been supressed.. for it's content has always been taken as a 'given'.
Nothing new really..
But what took some thought, was deciding why it was kept secret.. and the damage it has done to Georges image, and his efforts..
Stupid move, to obfuscate on what is obvious..

A view not often examined in this 'War on Terror', and the resulting hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq, is the position of the Christian communities which, for generations, have lived side by side with Islam.
There have been reports from Syria, which has a large Christian minority, in which the Roman, Greek Orthodox, Marionite, and Coptic Christian Communities, have voiced their fervent wish that the West would clear out of the Middle East. That the status quo, which has existed for literally millennia, is being destabalised, and that native Christians might have the efforts of their Western counterparts taken out on them.
It's a valid concern, and one perhaps that should be taken into account when those who pull the strings decide to make some move towards befriending the non-combatants in the area.
It's an interesting point, that the Syrian government funds a high school in a remote community of Christians, which teaches all it's classes in Aramaic, the language of Christ.
The Western Christian Community might do well to think of the damage they support, and who it might affect..

There is some dissent in Turkey these days, with the Government being Islamic, but the army comitted to maintaining the secuar State outlined and set up by Kamil Attaturk. There is a concern, especially in the light of the proposed entry of Turkey into the EU, that there be a strict division between Church and State, that the general tone being taken by the Islamic world could lead towards the end of Jurisprudence for Sha'ria Law..
That case brought into the limelight by the impending execution of a Turkish man, who was acquitted of his crime by the Judicial System, but still sentenced to death by a religious court..
It will be interesting to watch this situation develop, and what effect the Turkish man on the street has on whatever's implemented..