It would seem that we're not through meddling with the Middle East yet.. As the violence against those protesting the government of President al Assad continues, and frenzied attempts by foreign 'neutral diplomats' appear to have less and less impact, the reaction ranges from the French stance that 'violent intervention could be a possibility' to the Russian's saying they would veto any such a move in the Security Council, the 'Arab Spring' continues in that strife ridden country..
After all this time, it would seem that perhaps the West should let this scenario run it's course.. let those in Syria deal with their own problems.
Gods know we have enough on our own plates to keep us occupied..
UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Kofi Annan says the six-point international peace plan for Syria was not being implemented "as it must be".. but this effort to rein in that particular government is reminiscent of Cervantes.. and we have neither time nor resources to be tilting at such windmills..

We have among us now, a man who was a Labour Cabinet Minister, Allan Millbank, tasked with examining 'social mobility' among professions the likes of medicine and journalism.. to name just two..
Allan says their is a widening gap between the 'haves and the have-nots' in many professions.. and he wants the government to remedy the situation..
Just how, he does not explain.. but it might be put forward that increasing the literacy rate, and improving our education system, might be a good start.
Long has it been said that 'you can't make a silk purse from a sows ear'.. No more can you make a doctor, or a journalist, or a machinist for that matter, from those who haven't the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. We have lowered the bar about as far as it will go in an effort to prop up the old standards of education in this country.. and we have come to the point whereat we accept the lowest common denominator as the norm. Until schooling becomes a competitive process again, we will pump out those with little to offer, even when equipped with National Certificates or Degrees. One must accept there are those who are capable of no more than manual labour, and there are those who will excel in higher learning... Until that becomes commonly recognized within our society, there will always be those who, by using the system with cunning, reach positions beyond the scope of their incompetence..
Perhaps we should start by examining those in the Commons itself..

Barack now knows who he'll be up against come these next elections.. Mitt Romney has won the Republican nomination as their candidate..
But.. It's unanimous... A panel of renowned astrologers predicts Barack will win re-election in November.. That's the word from the last day of an astrology conference in New Orleans that also forecast earthquakes, explored the impact of lunar cycles on American stocks and demonstrated how to use planetary charts to find a job..
Yup.

And finally, for the now.. author Sir Terry Pratchett is to have a pig named in his honour after winning the 13th Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction..He won for his 50th book Snuff, which has become one of the fastest-selling hardback novels since records began.It is the first time the 64-year-old has been chosen by judges, having missed out on three previous occasions..
It's about bloody time, too.