Monday 21 February

A cold and overcast day in Stornoway, but at least it was dry.
The bloodshed in Libya continues, as Col Gaddafi refuses to relinquish his hold on delusion and brings in people from outside his country to slaughter those who seek to bring him down. How long will this go on? Rumours he had fled to Venezuela proved unfounded, but he will not flee. Some refer to him as a clown, but that's far from the truth. He is a clever manipulator, but will lash out with excessive, lethal force, if threatened. Images are leaking out of the country, showing burned buildings and mass demonstrations. I remain aghast and agog at the likes of former British PM Tony Blair who hugged and shook the hand of this mass murderer in 2003 - for the sake of a few measly trade and oil deals. Fifteen years after an airliner was brought down at the call of Mr Gaddafi. It also shows that the current governments of the West (whatever that may mean) are at complete loggerheads with reality themselves. They live in a coccooned, cozy world, where they talk big with their pals, at variance with what their populace is going through at the result of their windbagging. For that's what they all are, windbags. I see a talking shop in New York, otherwise known as the United Nations, which can't do a thing. I am now laughing when watching the Wikileaks twitter feed, showing the diplomatic assessments being made of the current situations. What is secrecy? It's not just a revolution in the Arab world, it is a worldwide revolution. It's called the Internet.

Closer to home, the government in London has dusted off the file named Double Summertime. This means that the UK will place itself in the same timezone as Western Europe, i.e. an hour ahead of GMT in winter and two hours in summer. I have called this a Lazy Man's Charter, serving the brainless coots in the City of London who are unable to engage their brains to put an hour on their own clock time to compare watches with their fellow Fat Cats in Frankfurt, Paris and Brussels. Dave Cameron has said it is to boost tourism, but blithely forgets that there are about five million folk, north of Carlisle and Berwick, who will have no sunlight before 10 am in winter - and who needs daylight at 11.30pm at any rate?