You never know who you might meet in the North African desert, I have heard rumours this week of a convoy of Gold heading south out of Libya. The last six months has been quite amazing in that part of the world and will certainly form the basis for many books and films in the future. This was the first war wholly fought from the Air by outside forces without their own ground forces. NATO and the western nations took a huge gamble, whether that has been truly successful we will not know for many years. The greatest danger after dealing with the old Gaddafi regime will be in the possible de-stabilisation of the region, particularly in Algeria and Morocco.
Yesterday the government revealed that most young people involved in the summer riots were ex-offenders aged in their mid twenties. This age group would be too old to be included in any outdoor boot camps or citizen training being proposed by politicians, to prevent future riots.
Overseas commentators have dared to suggest that all the British people may not be fully satisfied with their own form of democratic government (eg the rioters). An example of bad government revealed at the Staffordshire health inquiry was demonstrated when the former Health minister admitted awarding Foundation Trust Status to the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, on the strength of one favourable paragraph that he read in a report. The inquiry is the outcome of revelations that 400 more people died under the hospitals care than would normally be expected.
