<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2668" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Apologies for overposting.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Breaking stories: four houses in Yorkshire are being searched in relation to the bombings.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>On Radio 4's Today programme this morning:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* 'The Labour Party is to blame for starting an illegal war in Iraq' said ... Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National Party. He went on to say that they had also 'lost control of Britain's borders' and argued that the Koran is a terrorist manual. (Which just goes to show that the 'blowback' argument is entirely compatible with a contemptuous attitude to Arabs and Muslims - indeed I think it is intrinsically contemptuous, seeing them as merely reactive, not capable of moral choices.)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>* Much scorn is being heaped on the US military after servicemen and women based in Britain were instructed to avoid London. The US Charges D'Affaires here had to answer accusations that he was giving in to terrorists. (here I think that Gary? is right that the 'Stiff Upper Lip' is invoked as a kind of patriotic chauvinism against the cowardly yanks)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>