There was a fascinating piece on the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan on last Tuesday’s episode of Democracy Now! Here’s the summary:

Veteran Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid explains how the US ally Pakistan has armed and financed the Taliban after the US invasion of Afghanistan; how the CIA pays Pakistan to arrest al-Qaeda operatives, but Pakistan uses the money to fund the Taliban resurgence in northwest Pakistan; and how the US and NATO’s failure to deal with Afghan civil society has led directly to the huge rise of the opium trade that funds the Taliban.

I urge you to go and watch/listen if you interested.

….as it’s all over the HC parts of t’Internet I may as well say that rumours of a Stupids reunion gig are finally true. Tom and Martin have apparently been playing together for a while and with deluxe new re-issues series about to hit the streets they decided the time was right to play a ’secret’ show at the wonderful Portland Arms in Cambridge as part of Aston’s all-Boss Tuneage extravaganza on Saturday 26th July. Info here.

Tom’s asked if I’d like to join in proceedings as vocalist, so it’s all the way back to 1986-87 for me and trying desperately to remember how to be a frontman without a guitar. It’s a tiny venue (ironically the same one I played the recent gig with John Ruscoe), so I expect it’ll be rammed, but I’m looking forward to it…I just hope we get an opportunity to rehearse before the gig!