[around the blogs] what the bloggers are saying

Blog-round-up continues …

Gavin Ayling says: I’ve not read the full story, but it appears North Korea are publicly acknowledging their nuclear ambitions, to which I replied: I’ve run five pieces on Korea. “General Kim has declared that not even a tiny concession will be made to the imperialist US invaders, our arch-enemy,” said a broadcast on North Korean state television. Kim, who never speaks for himself in public, privately said that if the US took “revenge”, it would mean “all-out war”. “It is not empty talk for the DPRK [the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] to respond with revenge to any revenge by the enemy and with all-out war to all-out war,” the TV said. That’s why the nuclear programme is inevitable.

Iain Dale quotes a friend: Over 2,000 people have had the conference ruined by a security procedure that amounts to little more than window dressing - no terrorist applies for a pass... and if they wanted to carry out an attrocity they'd be far more resourceful. Instead, 7,500 people have had their driving licences, social security records etc checked and the net effect is wasting a lot of Police time and seriously upsetting the party's supporters for no logical reason.

Clive Davis on Dave Hill on George Michael: On both occasions I was struck by his impregnable self-confidence. This seems undiminished, sustaining him through a series of events which better balanced people might have reacted to with just a hint of a blush. Stars are supposed to be full of insecurities. Not George. He seems to believe he is incapable of error. Maybe that's why he's never made a record worth hearing.

DK is heavily into the UKIP flat tax proposal [posted by remote control]: Changes to tax regimes should always be undertaken cautiously because of the uncertainty that they cause. However, the changes proposed here can hardly be more disturbing than the incessant ill-considered meddling with taxation – quite often putting previous decisions into reverse – that has become the norm. We need to deregulate, reduce taxation and begin to unravel the complex web of tax and benefit rules. Above all we need to resist further moves towards EU tax harmonisation.The UK Independence Party believes in smaller government. Let us make a start by limiting the growth of the government budget and by making some modest tax reductions.

Chris is lamenting the demise of British industry: UK manufacturing is in terminal decline. That seems the natural inference from today's official figures on company profits … I guess globalization is a cause of this divergence. Low price competition from overseas is hurting manufacturers, who compete with foreign firms, but is benefiting services firms. This huge gap in profits should accelerate deindustrialization, as businesses shift from low-profits manufacturing into more remunerative areas.

Dymphna has an entertaining account of the American History Weekend and the bunch of leftists four blocks away: The chasm between those who think war can always be avoided and those who know otherwise is vast indeed. In this small town, only four blocks separated them. In the ongoing struggle in the real world, it might as well have been four light years. I know which group which group I want to be with should the times turn dangerous. Hint: it will not be the ones fighting with carrots.

Neocon has an ‘offence meter’ [left] to gauge the level of offense the Arab you just commented on feels. Entertaining.

Norman Geras mentions Miles Davis: Davis himself, a man of few words and strong views, once asked the saxophonist why he played such long solos. When Coltrane said he just did not know how to stop, his leader replied, "Try taking the horn out of your mouth."

Euroserf has a typically European swipe at Russia, Putin, Schroeder and Gazprom: Its nice to benefit from the impartial wisdom of a man of Gerhard's undoubted experience. We shall therefore stop worrying about the fact that with each passing day, Putin looks more and more dictatorial, to which I replied: he is not seen as anywhere near as dictatorial as the west portrays. Khodokorski was a case in point. There is now quite sound evidence he was going the way of Berezovski. This is a country which can go lawless at any time and needs firm action. He has already indicated he won't accept a third term. As for Schroeder, the baby issue is the biggie, one I posted on long ago. Which is not to say Serf is wrong about Gazprom, of course.

Timmy waxes lyrical, to help him get to the Bournemouth queues: You can call me the breeze; I keep blowing down the road; I ain't got me nobody; I ain't carryin' me no load; to which I immediately posted him an article: http://nourishingobscurity.blogspot.com/2006/10/j-j-cale-for-timmy-returning-from.html

Vox and the Americans are heavily into this Foley thing just now: This thing isn't even close to being over. From what I've read, there's at least two other GOP congressman who will likely be exposed before the election. And there's no point in wasting energy complaining about Democrats who do the same, they've already been inoculated against this by the Republican campaign against "San Francisco Democrats". Everyone already knows Democrats are perverts and psychos, that's the whole point of their appeal.

Sunday, sorry, for the other half of the blogroll. This was just getting too long.