Tucked away in the Customs Regulations section is this:

"Items and articles belonging to religions other than Islam are also prohibited. These may include Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David, and others."

I think that I agree with Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur that burning flags is a uniquely provocative act. Shahid Malik also makes the point that very small numbers of extremists often do this to hijack peaceful demonstrations.

Seriously. At this point it would be expected I suppose that one would try to justify and back up one's opinion. I feel that would be almost redundant as I actually can't think of a single good reason for introducing flag burning legislation. Apart from the unenforceability of such legislation and practical issues like what counts as a flag, surely such legislation would simply promote the flag to a pedestal which would make more successful any affected protest. These people have too much time on their hands.

A poll of Labour party members on the weekend before the Granita agreement, showed Blair with 47%, John Prescott with 15%, and Brown trailing a poor third, with 11%.

Blair unfortunately can't sack Brown without, as Harris points out, an overt sign of disloyalty. He erred by letting him stay in the Treasury for too long and becoming too identified with decent economic performance. Successes here gave Brown and his supporters (Nick Brown et al) something to talk about at any and every opportunity - and gave Brown some increased legitimacy of his own which he has used to further his own personal ambition of ascension to the premiership and only sparingly for the good of the party. His involvement in the general election last year brought on board probably only as many people from the left as they lost from the right due to the tories "vote Blair get Brown" campaign.

The more the Chancellor plays this game, the greater the inevitability of him losing. If he wants to be PM he needs to not take the PLP, the Labour Party and the Public for granted in assuming they will be delighted to have him. He needs to be earning their support. But that isn't his style, he's the Chancellor, he doesn't need anybody. He got the Chancellorship through a dodgy deal, and he seeks the Premiership the same way. But if there was a contest now he would not win, just as he would not have won back in '94. It seems unlikely to me that the Chancellor has secreted within him the charisma to engage an electorate and to deliver election wins. His assuming control would not either win over the 'awkward squad' who will not settle for 'new' Labour under any leader. And how satisfying would it be to win the top job by sleight of hand, and then to lose it at the ballot box by lack of support?

Brown's personal agenda for power has interfered with the business of government for far too long and Blair is definitely at fault for letting it. I don't understand why he has let the situation get to this point and assume that Brown has something else to bargain with, but I don't know what it is.

Blair owes Brown nothing and should demand loyalty and discipline or dismiss him to the backbenches.

The best thing that Prodi could do for Italy, and for Europe, is follow Zapatero of Spain's lead and push through media ownership reforms as his first order of business. He would also do well to strengthen freedom of speech protection laws.

Particularly upsetting is the government's success in shutting down Guzzanti's satirical television show after only one episode, which had aired to great ratings and critical acclaim. When interviewed by Guzzanti many of the politicians claim to 'not get' the satirical nature of the show, criticising it as simply not funny. This is the country that gave us Dario Fo. Comparisons between Berlusconi and Mussolini may be a stretch, but in a truly democratic country they would be allowed.

Having grown up in Britain, during the Thatcher era, and now having lived through Bush II in the US for 5 years, it's painfully clear to me that satire is an incredibly important creative outlet of frustration at government policy and incompetence. Spitting Image, Rory Bremner, The Daily Show and lately The Colbert Report have been willing to speak truth to power. That this entire genre is effectively forbidden in Italy shows that their democracy has a lot of growing up to do.

It is unusual to find such a candid book by a well respected name yet it is candid without being crass or gossipy. These are undoubtedly the common-sense home-truths which he has been desperate to shout from the rafters but couldn't due to his various high profile roles. And in my view he's a common-sense kind of guy. It covers his time as a European Commissioner and addresses two main themes; Britain's relationship with Europe and the USA's abandonment of the international and multi-lateral institutions which have brought it such success.

Martin Jacques review in the Guardian is worth reading.

I found myself surrounded by Catalonian journalists where the conversation started out with what implications any financial perspectives (FP) (Eurocratese for ‘budget’) deal might have for Catalonia. We swiftly moved on to matters closer to our hearts, “chica, que passa este fin de semana? Soy enfermo de esperar el fin de semana para llegar.” For that is what tonight turned into: a waiting game.

And so the waiting game goes on – waiting for something to happen or someone to say something. Something and anything. I take another stroll around and realize that, like many games, this one can be quite fun. Especially for a novice like myself (“I’m soooo booorreeeed,” one British hack covering her twelfth summit told me).

For, most journalists sit in clusters according to nationality, so when the FP becomes too much, journos can have a good old chinwag in their mother tongue. In many ways, these journalists are an insight in the strange and fascinating world of people that call themselves Europeans. Innocent eavesdropping can lead to absolute hilarity. You’ll learn how talk like The Godfather, unravel the workings of the German mind, bitte, danke und scheiße, and if you’re really lucky, you might land yourself an invitation from Achilles to visit him in Thesaaloniki.

Internal television circuits mean that one need never leave one’s seat to view the action that’s taking place just outside the door. In truth, all that entire basement is missing is armchairs - 2040 of them. Besides, if one gets really bored waiting, one can pop up to level 1 and indulge in a subsidized eighty-cent Belgian beer or for that matter anything from aftershock to ouzo. Cheap as chips.

By 10pm, numbers were dwindling (not in the bar I hasten to add) and when it was announced that the scheduled UK presidency press conference wouldn’t take place, many called it an early night.

So no secured FP deal - no news is good news? While the general mood tonight is still relatively relaxed, I expect that once the clocks starts ticking tomorrow (it always ticks faster on a Friday), as time runs out, I expect things will really heat up. If from nothing else, from body heat building up in the dungeons of that basement.

As Tony, Bertie, Jacques and the lads launch into a 48hr session of snarling and bickering (some ministers only stay for 24hrs – precious little time for any serious debate), I cruzed by the council to gauge the atmosphere. I arrived at 16:15 CET. Queue after queue, I reached level -2 just as Captain Tony boarded the ship. Show time.

Slick as always, as he walked on by, BLiar recited from his script before walking onto the big picture politics screen.

“It [finding a budget deal] is going to be very tough and very difficult. It is as well to be frank about that right at the outset. It hangs very much in the balance,” he said. Thank you, Tony.

And so, heads of states trickled in one by one, some chattier than others, others grinning than more than some, to be greeted by Tony and his friend Jack. But onwards and upwards to level -1 for me, through the darkly lit corridors and into the main press room.

This media centre has 1200 workstations for newspaper journalists, 96 for TV and 26 for radio stations. There's phones and internet at our disposal. Participating media have access to a medical centre, a post office, travel agency, bank and exchange bureau. What’s more, free breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served as well as snacks and drinks throughout the night. This is turning out to be quite the festival.

As I step over cables abundant on level -1, others are busy setting up their equipment and editing their earliest footage, I look forward to my canteen style supper (it is, after all, free and we all know that anything free tastes good), but I can’t help thinking about the diplomatic dinner date that’s taking place on about, oh, level +10.

As holders of the rotating EU presidency, the UK is playing host. The menu: cullen skink, a Scottish fish soup made from haddock which presumably tastes nicer than it sounds? A rack of Northern Irish lamb as their main course. A selection of British cheeses, Scottish shortbread and coffee will follow. A white from Wales, Tintern Parva, and a red from Devon, Sharpham Beenleigh. I suppose one can’t work on an empty stomach. It’s all very well bon appetit for some.

A so, my barometer gauges the fist few hours of this summit as a pretty relaxed start, although some seemed already exhausted, perhaps from their travels from far away lands (see photos). Folks are revving up for some action. We’re all in place: lights, camera, action! But first, a bite to eat…

Tomorrow the EU summit begins. Heads of state and government of the 25 EU member states, a flood of 2040 journalists from all over the globe, around 70 interpreters, countless diplomats, copious quantities of coffee and me.

As your anoasis correspondent, I’ll be there to keep an eye on what goes on. Now, for a serious account of what really happens, to find out who clinches the budget deal, you’d be well advised to check out EUPolitix.com.

As for me, I hope to provide anoasis with a snapshot of what goes on behind the scenes of the media centre. I’ll be on the wrong (or right?) side of the camera. Really, it’s an experiment; so I only hope that it’s at least a little bit interesting. A demain. - Gemma

• The Police association might well campaign for 90/180/360 days to question suspects without charge.
• Civil liberties groups can campaign to reduce it to 48/24/2 hours.
• It is Parliaments job to weigh up competing interests and make a balanced judgement

90 days is an obscene amount of time to hold someone without charge and if it was even to begin to warrant serious discussion then there would have to be a hell of a strong case made by someone. 90 hard drives? 8 Olympic sized swimming pools? 5 gold rings? WTF? 28 days is too long on the kind of argument put forward as far as I can see. What on earth are they and the Security Service spending their money on, Commodore 64's? I don't think so.

So, the Prime Minister isn't a stupid man. I don't buy the he thinks he's invincible line. He knew it wasn't going to be close enough to warrant bringing back Straw & Brown from their travels. Like with Iraq before, I now want to know the alterior motive for this charade. I'm sure it is a good one, they usually are, but I'm cynical.

Specifically,

• Why the Sun campaign?
• Why did the PM take control?
• Why did they call back Brown & Straw?
  Supplemental: Did they?

BBC: Chancellor Gordon Brown said Mr Blair had his "full support"

In short, "the public" like Tony and believe he's doing a good job. Labour rebels want Tony to like them, but know full well they don't have "public support". Gordon Brown (& Jack Straw) had to come back to be seen to be supporting Blair and not off on some foreign adventure. TB has renewed his personal mandate to lead.

An amazing thing to watch.

Ministers have agreed plans for a ban on smoking in enclosed public places in England - with exemptions for clubs and pubs not serving food.

Newsom set a goal of a free or inexpensive city-wide Wi-Fi network last year. He portrayed the idea as a way to boost San Francisco's technology credentials and help bring Internet have-nots -- especially the poor -- into the digital age.

But there are issues, political, commercial and technological.

Technologically probably wi-fi is the most appropriate technology to provide blanket coverage; its uptake compensating for the relatively small 'cell size', WiMax may be ultimately be more economical but as yet is immature. It is however suggested that San Francisco would require 30 antennae per square mile; of which SF has 49. The cost of provisioning 1500 antennae in 1500 locations will be considerable but not every unit would require wired internet access, a mesh might require only a fraction to have such connectivity and others could be mounted anywhere that power was available. Lampposts, council housing, public buildings are already council owned so costs need not be necessarily prohibitive.

Commercially and politically there are questions to be addressed as to the role of the local authority in providing this 'infrastructure'. Is wi-fi comparable to, say, bridges, roads or trams? Should there be a public service obligation on somebody to provide universal wifi? Is the market going to provide citywide universal wi-fi without governmental intervention, and if so will it be timeous?

San Francisco is an obvious place for this to happen, loads of tech workers and a relatively compact city. I'm curious more about whether such an initiative could work in Edinburgh (or Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness and Aberdeen). Edinburgh is a city with many white collar workers in the finance and tech sectors, loads of students and a desire to grow (at least economically). The Scottish Parliament has at least halted the drain of headquarters in the city and it must be an aim for Edinburgh to attract new HQ's to the city. For this to happen there has to be appropriate infrastructure. Edinburgh City council have shown they recognise this through planned improvements in for example public transport. It seems to me that by becoming a wireless city Edinburgh would have many benefits to the city

• more attractive as a HQ location
• more inclusive of those on the periphery of the new economy (bridging the digital divide)
• more attractive as a location for business in general
• friendlier to tourists
• easier digital delivery of council services
• a great investment in the people of Edinburgh, e.g. skills development, quality of life improvement

Also, does anyone know the reputation of scotsman.com?

And to an extent it was. Sorabji traced the philosophical thought of 'Regime Change' from Aristotle to Aquinas to Vitoria, then up to the 20th Century notion of trusteeship and of course culminating with Iraq in 2003. Kelsay addressed regime change in Islamic thought and tradition; when it might be acceptable or just, what the Qu'ran says on the topic and how Sunni and Shi'i views differ.

While it was interesting, I found Sorabji to be pretty hard work. He ultimately proferred his view that Sovereignty was alive but in a modified form since the end of the cold war - Sovereignty unless. Unless imminence of a massive humanitarian tragedy, unless secession etc. Kelsay didn't really address that particularly but did highlight a fierce debate within Sunni thinking on the tactics of insurgent fighters seeking regime change in particular the requirement of adherence to a code of honour which includes not targetting civilians.

The company teamed up with Portugal-based Enersis to plan the farm just over a year ago - a partnership aimed at taking advantage of financial incentives set up by the Portuguese government.

The group is also working with ScottishPower, but head of business development Max Carcas said it was not yet possible to build a large-scale wave farm in UK waters. "The government's financial policy still needs tweaking," he said.

The Portuguese order is the first commercial transaction for wave turbines, beating plans by rival Ocean Power Technology (OPT), which is planning to launch a project off the north coast of Spain.

But OPD's turbine is 15 times more powerful than its rival's, and Carcas said it was as advanced as wind turbines were six years ago. The technology is called Pelamis, and was fine-tuned off Orkney.

Carcas added: "The most exciting thing is that this will be the first commercial wave farm in the world." The deal followed a series of meetings between British and Portuguese officials. - The Scotsman

The aircraft carrier is about giving America the capability to do lots of things with people, helicopters and the like. They also want their own command post if Bush decides they have to carry out their own operation.

drap[e] their houses in huge US flags and spray-painting their cars in the stars and stripes. Also learning the Texan for "don’t shoot, we're on your side".