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Good to hear a voice speak out about the warnings of history with the escalation of the situation with Iran. The history of the non-action during the 1930's lead to the second world war. If we do not act to stop Iran in it's nuclear aims there will be terrorist organizations with nuclear bombs and one will be exploded in a Western European or US city. Only then will the George Galloways of the world shout out "WHY WASN'T ANYTHING DONE TO STOP THIS"
Also good to hear from a younger member of the audience that if called they would stand up and fight for this country.

Re: Valerie Plame

That had to be the dumbest Newsnight interview yet. Here are a few salient points.

1.)Plame鈥檚 name was first mentioned by Richard Armitage to Robert Novak who wrote the story 鈥榦uting鈥� her. Armitage is not a Bush man, so there was no point in Fitzgerald going after him.
2.)Plame鈥檚 denied recommending her husband for the Niger trip to investigate Saddam interest in buying yellow cake (memos have shown this to be a lie).
3.)Plames鈥檚 husband, Joe Wilson, made a short trip to Niger to determine if Saddam really had tried to buy yellow cake. Niger has practically nothing to sell to the outside world but yellow cake and Saddam did send his nuclear emissary to Niger. This has been covered in detail by Christopher Hitchens in several articles. Joe Wilson was then involved in a media circus effectively calling Bush a liar (M16 still believes it is probable that Saddam sought to buy yellowcake from Niger).
4.)Libby was found guilty of perjury, which may or may not be true. Fitzgerald, like many American prosecutors (e.g. Starr vs Clinton) clearly took a political stance on this and was determined to get a prosecution. Libby was the best he could do, period. The case against other Bush operatives got nowhere, and how could since it was Richard Armitage what done it?
5.) What better way to sell her book than sue the Bush administration for an imagined malicious conspiracy. KERCHING!

So there was a story her but it sure wasn鈥檛 the one Kirsty presented this evening.

Is Newsnight partisan or just lazy? 鈥� discuss.

here, here, Barrie

>a psychological disease that appears to have its genesis in the developed world<

my understanding is that language has developed to such an extent that words are no longer meaningful but are a coded system to meaning and, importantly, group belonging, specifically who is in and who is out of the main polity.

english has spread because its lazy structure enables easy access to basic level use and its complex vocabulary ensures that high level use is extremely context dependant.

in actuality, most meaningful policy communications take place using facial expressions, physical gestures (who's company one is seen in), and leaked documents rather than open debate.

there are various off-the-peg words that signal the moral consensus - actually, absolutely, clearly, these all imply that the speaker somehow has privileged access to 'truth'.

there are various tactics to delay action, the intellectual equivalent of 'oooff! it's not a five minute job!' - poor hygiene in hospitals is apparently 'going to be a long war' - why?

and then there is the sheer deafness of the media to the voices of those on the outside of the polity. the voice of black police officers I heard to say three times that black communities would prefer more stop and search to more gun crime. this was translated by the white media as - black police officer advocates more stop and search of young people. this completely misprepresents the superior understanding of multiculturalism that that man showed. even when black people point government back towards common sense a sort of reverse racism prevents govt from hearing.

gordon has gone to get shami's blessing on his bill of human rights. into that document will go the rights of people who have lived in the country for very little time to advance beyond the economic status of many of the people who can trace their roots back centuries, whose education and welfare was put on hold to service new arrivals, whose sociable culture is under constant attack from the middle class and whose access to exercise was stripped from them by the polity who now pass back the blame for the resultant weight gain - is that equality?

one last point ... the environmental agenda reminds me of men mowing the lawn in nice neat stripes. where on earth did men get the idea that sustainability is about measuring everything in 'miles' and ignoring the complex social interaction of culture with technology. Supermarkets proliferated because they enabled women for the first time to seriously consider working as well as having a husband/childrem. supermarklets provide a huge amount of healthy affordable food. what happened to the welfare state? it is now called tesco.

Newsnight, can you please get this blog definitively sorted out? It's beyond pitiful how unreliable it is. There must be lots of valid comment that you're missing simply because people get fed up with it timing out, having to re-submit, or submitting only to find their comment disappears or is duplicated. We're ready to interact, it's you that seems ambivalent about it. There's no good reason for it to be this difficult.

Sorry Newsnight, but I tried to send a blog suggesting your lead story casting doubt on DNA, didnt stand up. The blog didnt go through so I sent it to your office asking for it to be added, which it hasnt been

When even Mr Goodall is beginning to get testy, you know you've got a problem, people. Seriously, it needs sorting out.

David Lloyd George is reviled in Ireland as the militaristic British Prime Minister who sent over to this country the criminal scum from British jails who were allowed to join an 'Auxiliary' regiment of the British army, known in Ireland as the Black & Tans (from the colours of their motley uniform). These vicious gentlemen then proceeded to wage a war of terror against the civilian population. Lloyd George's memory is an execrable one in Ireland. When will we learn not to glamourise as heroes such abominable individuals as Lloyd George.

i tried posting all week. they all timed out. i bet this is the only one that gets there....

Hi Newsnight

Please don鈥檛 be discouraged by the present difficulties or comment about the blog, ie please do not consider throwing the blog out with the bathwater, its a great experiment, and part of the future of broadcasting (in the end we're be making the programmes and interviewing you, half joking)

I can well imagine that your webteam are now under attack from the Daleks having embarked on such a bold initiative, but keep in there!!

Perhaps regular posters who have used the site appropriately could be assigned a pin number to make access easier, with a review for a bad post?

I had one not posted -I fully agree with the decision not to put it on, not in a minefield but perhaps a little too close

best wishes and hang in there
your efforts ARE very much appreciated

best wishes
Bob

the comment I wanted to make about DNA profiling was that it is essentially about detecting criminals, rather than convicting them, where more evidence is needed.

PS Is there any chance of a feature on why some of us think that with the intelligence services of all countries including our own, targeting the politicians of other countries 鈥搘ouldn鈥檛 it be prudent to allow routine ongoing security checks by our security services on members of the Cabinet to protect them and us, of the sort required for all senior civil servants? At present this is a not allowed. I think this may be a serious oversight.

If the worst was the happen there is no procedure at the moment for our security services to follow, surely this should be changed?

The reply to my letter to the Cabinet Secretary about this is on www.vetmps.org.uk

I tried several times last night to post a comment but without success. I merely wanted to reiterate all Professor Jamieson said and pray the legal system listens to him...he really does know what he is talking about!! DNA is a powerful tool but so often juries take it on face value, not realising there are flaws within its' use and, as with fingerprint technology, it is NOT 100% certain.

William C Thompson - He was very urbane on the programme. Is that primarily what counts these days? It woulkd explain all of the attractive females in the media and elsewhere I guess.

Good presentational skills and good 'arguing' skills (aka nefarious rhetoric given that truth is a function of evidence not argument, and that the latter is just concerned with internal validity) seem to be valued over pursuit and presentation of truth these days.

This is very naive and ultimately very culturally self-destructive behaviour.

Very significant changes have taken place in Nepal this week, parliament passing a resolutiion on proclamation of a republic of Nepal. Would like to see Newsnight taking it up as soon as possible.