So please don’t expect much for a while.

I do have a post half-drafted about civil service blogging - much happening at the moment, including my own ‘proper’ FCO blog at some point in the coming months.

But more of that anon. This time tomorrow I’ll be in Denmark.

Barbie in fisnhets n’ leather. Could open up a whole new customer base.

Tesco causes couple condom catastrophe - The Register. Sure, they get stuff wrong. But what I wouldn’t give for a Tesco delivery van right now.

Russian billionaire’s new yacht - WSJ. I think it looks kind of cool.

BSG Toaster. Gotta get me one.

Jesus and Mo. Why had I never found this before?

The 10″ Mac notebook you’ve always wanted. Gotta get me one of these, too.

Is it me, or does this blog look a little messy?

I’ve tried to go with a relatively clean look, but I’m not sure three columns is the best way to achieve that.  And the line spacing / paragraph spacing is all wrong.

The Blogroll needs updating, too - lots of new people to add, and a few defunct blogs which will probably fall by the wayside.

And I need to update to Wordpress 2.5.1.  I might also experiment with K2 - I’ve seen a few blogs using it, most notably the Lords, and I like the way it looks.  The trouble with me and themes is that I’m not experienced enough (or brave enough) to delve into the innards of Wordpress, so I need a theme which looks pretty much the way I want out of the box.  I’ll see what I can find.

So if you stop by over the weekend and there’s nothing here, I’ve probably broken something.  And if the look does change, let me know if it’s better or worse.

I’ve been very remiss in sharing links lately. With apologies, here’s a few highlights:

EFI-x - run OS X on any old PC. Hardware issues here we come - but if it works on a tiny Vaio I’ll be tempted

Why “Old Etonian Simon Mann” is a twit - Gill Hornby in the Telegraph. Brilliantly insightful.

Charles Crawford on public sector and public service mawkishness. Priorities indeed.

Happy Birthday iPhone. Still loving mine, despite the awful camera. Interesting predictions here from The Reg.

Two great posts from Lords of the Blog. Compulsory voting - with (and only with) a box for ‘declared abstention’ - has been a hobby-horse of mine for some time. Not just for our (elected) representatives, but for all of us. Reading these convinces me even more. But would the electorate wear it?

Intel says ‘no’ to Vista. Me too.

Does anyone ever use ’sharing buttons?’ asks Simon. I suspect he’s right. In fact I’d go a little further - do the majority of web users actually use the likes of Digg on a regular basis? Or is it just for small groups of like-minded geeks?

Stairway to Brand Heaven (or Hell) from David Armano, via Steve Clayton. A picture telling a thousand words - again.

… and finally, a little Aussie humour from Theo.

More later, perhaps.

The Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, in his article on the potential for a Russian agricultural resurgence to address global famine, rightly draws attention to the fact that

these reserves of idle soil are alone enough to meet the entire global need of 30m extra hectares over the next decade.

And indeed there are British farmers already getting in on the action.

Props to Ambrose, though, not just for the article, but for managing to find himself an analyst named Kingsmill.

BBC NEWS | Edinburgh buskers ‘to pipe down’: “Bagpipers on Edinburgh’s historic Royal Mile have been told they will be arrested if they continue to play.”

Whatever next?

(thanks to Dave Henniker for the image)

Guido’s been leading the charge against Caroline Spelman MP.

Others are defending, of course, and a few are managing to remain objective and see the wider picture. I particularly like this conclusion, from Beau Bo d’Or:

What do I believe ? A cock-up on the Spelman front but not dishonest.
However, the excuses and explanations seem totally dishonest.
The hypocrisy shown on the blogs, claims of conspiracy and the predictable whining about the BBC is pathetic.

Not so easy to stir up a baying mob as it used to be, eh, Paul?

Why Obama Won - 10 reasons, by Justin Webb

Love number 10:

Axelrod wrote the script. David Axelrod was an adviser to The West Wing and helped mould the character (Matt Santos) who succeeded Jed Bartlett. He based him on Obama and now Obama seems based on Santos. But either way, it was written… And it has come to pass…

It’s going to be an interesting election.

From Theo, via Mark Scott

28th May.

Commander Ian Lancaster Fleming - author, fantasist, banker, journalist, sailor and failed diplomat - would have been 100 today, had he kept off the gin and cigarettes.

The Register, along with a suitably tongue-in-cheek potted biography, reports of a commemorative exhibition at the Imperial War Museum entitled For Your Eyes Only. Hope to make it back to London before it closes.

In the meantime, I’ve been looking for an excuse to post this xkcd.com cartoon for ages.