God Save the Queen

As you might have noticed

This blog has been underperforming lately. It's time to face the facts. (Update 19/5/05: amateurish attempt at archiving is here.) A combination of several factors is compelling me to call it a day:

• Work commitments have been heavy of late and getting heavier. There won't be any improvement in that regard for the foreseeable future.
• I've said most of what I wanted to say when I started. It should be clear to any regular or semi-regular reader where I'm coming from, but just in case here's the five-sentence version.

I favour classical values and forms in the arts and literature, and believe that music, especially the great composers of the classical Western tradition, represent what is best in humanity. I favour pluralism and the open society as the best form of politics and government, and find the recent election result thoroughly in conformity with that vision - though one should note that none of the three main parties represented a serious threat to civilisation, as one might have concluded from reading some of the more excitable media outlets. I favour faithfulness to the Atlantic Alliance - the alliance for which VE Day was the first of many causes to celebrate - as the best possible guarantee of security and the spread of freedom. I believe in a merciful and loving God, though I have no wish to lecture anyone on the subject. And like JRR Tolkien, I am always in favour of trees.

• The third factor is, I'm getting married.

I hope to return to blogging one day, but I don't know when. Goodbye and all the best for now.

Duly noted

Harry links to a piece which deserves to be read - before tomorrow, if possible.

And why stop at Number 10 Downing Street when there's a much bigger house in Washington?

Some more current reading

Dean Esmay on the lessons of Vietnam - as relevant as ever.

Arthur Chrenkoff posts on why we fight.

An article I've been wanting to see for a while, because it cuts to the chase about Iraq: will the new Iraqi security forces actually cut the mustard? It looks like they will, though it's a dirty war. 'Among the just, be just, among the filthy, filthy too...' The biggest danger is that they might get too successful, and their leaders might develop political ambitions: still, they need to be given a chance. One fascinating quote:

"Captain Bennett was on his second tour in Iraq... he was among the Third Infantry Division troops who captured Baghdad airport against stiff resistance from Republican Guard forces. Bennett wears his division patch on the shoulder of his uniform, and soon after he arrived in Samarra, the patch was recognized by a few of the Iraqi commandos, who informed him that they had been in the Republican Guard unit at the airport that fought his unit. Initially, Bennett was leery about going into combat with men he had tried to kill, and who had tried to kill him, but after their first battle together, fighting shoulder to shoulder against insurgents, his doubts disappeared."

Omar discusses prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. It gives a little, shall we say, perspective.

In the light of all this, I can only endorse this poster from Anthony. There's a few more ticks still to make, and that's a subject I'll be returning to, but three isn't bad going. It's three more than most PMs manage.