Finally, some good news for Afghanistan

Afghanistan won their final match in the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa, but results elsewhere went against them.

However, they have assured themselves of One-Day International status, according to Cricinfo.

It gives me an opportunity to trot out my favourite Don Bradman quotation. Anecdotes published since his death suggest that he was a tougher old buzzard than he appeared in his lifetime, but I'd like to think he meant this, from the final chapter of "The Art of Cricket":

"there is no game - indeed is there any substitute at all - which is
better able to bring together on a common level and unite tens of
thousands of people ... different in colours, differing in religious
beliefs and in other respects but still human beings, flesh and
blood, who have a common heritage in their desire to work and play
without devastating the earth for selfish, greedy ends.

"I once spent an evening talking nothing but cricket to a team of
West Indian players. The goodwill which they so obviously exuded
because we all played and loved the same game was a thrill and lives
in my memory. I did not know their families, their homes, their
country, their mode of living, or really very much about them at all,
but we were friends in the truest sense.

"It was a great Indian, Prince Ranjitsinhji, who wrote, 'No
institution is perfect - it will always tend to excess or defect. But
how nearly perfect is cricket. It is a game which keeps boys out of
mischief. It is a training of youth for a manly life. It lays up a
store of strength and health against old age. It makes individual men
life-long friends.'"

Let it be so with Afghanistan.

Sir Clement Freud

There is a more political note on the local party web-site, but here is a trivial footnote to Sir Clement's remarkable career as bon viveur and gambler (which I hope I can beat Jonathan Calder to). In 1957, he made his film debut, uncredited, as a croupier in "True as a Turtle". This was followed by three further appearances as either croupier or chemin-de-fer dealer. There must be a tale to be told here.

McBride must be closeted with his lawyers

Nadine Dorries MP is reported to be considering seriously taking out a libel action against Damian McBride. Judging by the comments, especially those of Bernard Salmon, to this opinion from Antony Hook (barrister), she would stand a reasonable chance of success. The government would surely not wish to give the slightest impression of interfering.

The important point to bear in mind, in a medium which tends to be dominated by American views of the law, is that it is much easier to prove libel in an English court than a US one. For one thing, "absence of malice" is not a defence over here (though McBride would hardly be able to rely on this, given his motivation for floating the false stories). That, and the record of awards of high damages in London courts, produce a seemingly endless flow of Americans to sue in English courts on the slightest of pretexts.

(The usual disclaimers apply.)

Updated 2009-04-16 in the light of the first comment.

More on Conficker computer worm

Stateside ABC News reports that 800 machines at the University of Utah have become infected. While the primary purpose of the worm has still not been established, it seems to have been augmented with a piece of malware intended to obtain credit card details.

Update 2009-04-14: silicon.com has more, with lots from Trend Micro.

Track the minister

Lord Adonis is taking a chance. He has decided to invest in a Rover ticket and travel the length of England & Scotland by rail. He was scheduled to start in London today and finish in York on Saturday.

The full schedule is:

• Monday night: London to Truro
• Tuesday: Truro to Newquay via Par. On to Exeter, Yeovil, Wareham, Bournemouth and Brighton
• Wednesday: Brighton, Ashford International, Margate, Gillingham, Gravesend, Tilbury, Upminster, Romford, Ipswich and Norwich
• Thursday: Norwich to Peterborough, Birmingham, Chester, Crewe, Manchester, Preston and Carlisle
• Friday: Carlisle to Newcastle via Middlesbrough and Darlington. Then on to Inverness via Edinburgh and Falkirk
• Saturday: Inverness to Edinburgh via Aberdeen before ending the tour with a visit to the National Railway Museum in York

I note that his lordship is not risking taking in Wales.

Even without that hostage to fortune, it will be interesting to see how many days' programmes are completed without a hitch. Is anybody keeping a log of Adonis's progress?

A little ramble

Inspired by the immortal words of Ken Dodd (or was it Eddie Braben?) "I love a ramble - as you've no doubt gathered" I have sent on holiday my blog censor. He is trained in the hard school of George Orwell and Christopher Isherwood (by the way, how can they possibly film "A Single Man"? I hope the product is released direct to land-fill), and does his best to trim off discursions, intricate subordinate clauses and even semi-colons from my postings. Like the thought that has just been triggered by my own headline, that one of my favourite presenters from the day before yesterday (well, she still looks that young), Floella Benjamin is not only president of the Ramblers Association but has also publicly committed herself to the Liberal Democrats.

What really inspired my desire to blog today was hearing the views of ex-special adviser Liam Byrne on Broadcasting House this morning after reading Alix Mortimer the night before. Byrne, Derek Draper and Damian McBride are keen to spread the fiction that the blogosphere is dominated by right-wingers. What they mean is, that most of the readable blogs are those critical of the government. Most are liberal or libertarian, not rightist as I understand the way that term is usually deployed - authoritarian, even monarchical, and socially oppressive. It is possible to write from within the Labour camp in an interesting way - witness Paul Flynn. (I suppose I should also add the blog of the Cooperative Party, since this body has not yet seen the light and divorced itself from New Labour, which stands for most of the things that Cooperation does not.) The fact that so few Labour blogs reach this level is a reflection on the state of the Labour Party, rather than of the blogosphere.

I must say I hadn't noticed any shortage of coverage of Ian Tomlinson. Peter Black has certainly posted one of the two videos which show a policeman attacking an unaggressive civilian from behind, and commented on it. If metropolitan liberal bloggers have not featured the incident, it can only be because it has received so much coverage in the mainstream media.

As for myself, I try not to duplicate stuff which is going to be covered elsewhere on Liberal Democrat blogs (for a list, have a look at the aforementioned Peter Black blog) . Much of my attitude to current events can be taken as read in the fact of my party membership. There is an apocryphal story told about Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the US. When asked by Mrs Coolidge what a sermon had been about, he replied: "Sins", "Well, what did he say about sin?" "He was against it."

Are metropolitan commentators really so shocked by the McBride revelations? The only surprise to me is that a Labour dirty tricks campaign has been committed to writing (albeit to the transient medium of email) so high up the hierarchy. From the occasional comment I glean from fellow LibDems in parts of England, Conservatives are also capable of such nastiness.

The most offensive element of the affair is that these "special advisors" like McBride have remained so long. They are no more than party hacks, yet they are paid for out of our taxes. No doubt they receive civil service pensions, as well. Brown was supposed to have swept away so much of the flim-flam which surrounded the Blair court, yet very little seems to have changed.

Rutland prison riot

No, not an excerpt from Lord Bonkers' diary, but an actual event in a category C prison near Oakham. Reports of category B prisoners being moved into Ashwell gaol because of overspill elsewhere are denied by the Ministry of Justice, but Colin Moses, national chairman of the POA, claimed the association had warned that this type of disturbance might occur.

According to the BBC report, hesaid: "The current prison population and lack of appropriate prison places has resulted in prisoners being transferred away from their homes and put in lower category prisons resulting in more drugs, violence and gang cultures in our prisons.

"The drive for savings has led to fewer staff, a reduction in regime and offending behaviour programmes being cancelled. End result unhappy and bored prisoners."

One recalls similar claims and denials over an open prison in Gwent.

A Liberal Democrat has breached election law

The appeal court has to be commended for confirming the conviction of a Liverpool councillor for publishing a leaflet which broke electoral law. Even though Steve Hurst is a Liberal Democrat, I cannot defend his actions. The content, judging from the Daily Post report, is no worse than some campaign material I have seen locally. The offence is not owning up to its real origin.

One wonders, though, whether the legal action would have been pursued with such vigour if the target of the dirty tricks had been, say, a Conservative councillor. The origin of the anonymous leaflet sent to voters in South Wales West before the last Assembly elections has still not been established.