Flood? What flood?

Through a veil of sleep yesterday morning I heard the Today programme report on a mud slide in Mexico.

So when I reached the international pages of the guardian I expected some report there also.

There was none, not even a hundred words.

This is no minor inetrnational incident this is a flood on the scale of New Orleans.

I bought a selection of papers yesterday so I decided to look through all of them.

The Daily Telegraph had an advert appealing for help in the Mexico floods, but no article.

The Independent thankfully had a very short article on it.

So I am left fuming at The Guardian.

Why have international pages if you aren't going to report on major international news?

It's a disgrace.

More breasts please?

Allegedly breast feeding cuts your risk of heart disease.

Great I thought, my mother has saved me from ill health in later life.

However on reading the report I was discouraged to note that there were no details on the Methodology of the study.

Why so disappointed?

Well given the claims I wanted to make sure that any other factors had been ruled out as part of the study.

Now there is nothing to say that they didn't, but it leaves that question hanging in the air.

After all those that are breast fed may be better educated or more wholesomely fed as they grow up, which could also contribute to their low BMI index in later life.

So if you wrote this report could you set my mind at rest.

As luck would have it...

I've just got myself a new international reader from Brazil.

Still no wiser on why they dropped by though...

International readers

I was really excited when I got my first reader from India, I'm guessing they were attracted by my post on Bride and Prejudice - though maybe not, I don't want to stereotype this person.

I wanted to attract more readers from far flung places, so I was delighted when I had a reader show up on the west coast of America - my geographies bad so I don't know what state that is.

Then I got a blob turn up what looks like it might be Luxembourg.

But now I'm addicted, I want to have readers all around the globe and more than just one in each place.

My egomania knows no bounds, but I don't know what these precious international readers came to look at so I've no idea what I should be focussing on to encourage more of them to read.

So if you're from anywhere outside England then leave a comment, let me know what you're reading and I'll try to write more and not just go on boring rants about my burgeoning international readership.

What can £1.31 buy you these days?

I'm on campus again today finishing off my shiny new website and waiting for Melissa to come and have a look at it.

I've been overspending a bit recently, so I came into campus today armed with a travelcard and £1.31 in loose change.

At about 11.30 I took a break and wandered into town in search of a coffee.

The coffee shop I like was selling most things at over £2.00.

My £1.31 could have bought me a peach flavoured ice tea for £1.30...

So I decided to check out Debenhams.

Their coffee shop was similar and in fact had nothing for £1.30, but then I tried the Restaurant...

At first I was tempted by the £1.30 Iced Donut, but I thought I better check the drinks.

Low and behold at Debenhams Restaurant I could buy a whole pot of tea for £1.30.

So that's what I settled on.

One small pot of tea with heaps of sugar and milk.

Lovely.

And I've still got a penny...

Where has my inner radical gone?

I was going to talk about Jean Charles de Menezes yesterday, but I didn't really know what to say apart from I was disappointed at the government's reaction to the results of the inquiry.

Instead I went to watch the Fireworks at Streatham Common last night, it was quite a fun display but I found myself wondering at my own safety.

Not that I felt threatened, despite the sign asking for help in a shooting incident on the way there, in fact that was exactly the point I felt incredibly safe.

I remembered the accusation levelled at the British Muslims in Britz on Thursday night, that they were safe whilst their brothers and sisters were dying in other parts of the world.

I'm not a Muslim, but that's not to say that I can't also feel guilty about my cosy existence.

It's been a while since I've even been to a political demo, the last one I was at was a Pro Choice rally and I missed the one about Burma.

I feel distinctly inactive and I don't like it.

It feels as if I am accepting what is going on in the world at the moment and that is far from the case.

I joined the students against the war group at freshers' Fair but they haven't been in touch and they were the only campaigning group on campus it seemed.

Where was the Amnesty group?

I'm sick of just signing the odd petition I want to feel as if I'm really doing something.

But there isn't to my mind a party that I can join, they all seem to be selling the same stuff.

If you can think of a good one let me know.

Britz

I'm watching the second part of the Channel Four series Britz.

It is one of the best pieces of TV that I've seen in a while.

It is perhaps not as personal as the film Jasmin that was shown a while ago, but it raises even more issues than the former did about the state of "terrorist" legislation in this country.

We are quick in this country to criticise America for being bigoted and imperialist, but we tend to give our own government an easier ride.

"We were pushed into the Iraq War by the Americans."

"This is not what Britain wants."

But Britain is still completely responsible for its own domestic policy.

Control Orders, The Prevention of Terrorism Act, they are all within our power to change.

There aren't enough voices reminding the government that arrest without charge caused massive miscarriages of justice in Northern Ireland.

We're making the same mistakes again, only worse.

It's time that we brought this madness to an end.