Anyone know who this is? SHARJAH // A former associate of the suspected international arms dealer Viktor Bout, had his appeal against his conviction for murder postponed yesterday because of power cuts which hit parts of Sharjah. AS, 47, was just one of around 90 cases due to be heard at Sharjah Appeals Court which…
Read More A Bout sidelightI’ve finally got around to reading Ahmed Rashid’s Taliban and Descent into Chaos. They are as good as everyone says. Specifically, there are perhaps three things that set Rashid apart as a writer on Central Asia. (His contacts book is outstanding, but then, he’s not the only one.) First of all, he writes about Central…
Read More writing about Afghanistan, rather than about Brunssum or QatarI recently sent off another report through FixMyStreet, pointing at the horrible state of the roads round here. (I am more than a little disappointed with the Android client app, by the way.) Within a week, some of the worse potholes had been tar’n’gravelled. Meanwhile, even more seem to have appeared or worsened. What it…
Read More ticket punchingBasically, what Ian McMillan said. Never buck the Nameless Dread. It tells the truth. It may not be particularly expressive, but neither is a tail-warning radar and the two concepts are similar in function. It’s interesting how many people remember sharing school textbooks as a 1980s trope. It’s my generation’s version of “if you can…
Read More free school mealsNow this is truly remarkable. The Safer Birmingham Partnership has agreed to suspend its ANPR deployment. Hilariously, this is operationalised by putting bags over the cameras’ heads; no doubt the good people at Harry’s Place will be furious, as Muslims and RESPECT have at last succeeded in forcing something to cover its head. As supporters…
Read More retrospectively consulted