LOL Sophocleese!

Amazing to see how suddenly some of you guys have got yourselves worked up about the nature of the Taliban. Kat, I and others have been banging on about it for years, ina fair amount of detail. Never crossed my mind that bombing their hospitals was the answer.

While you're in the mood, why not take a look at how that staunch friend Saudi Arabia is governed. Or read up on the Kuwaiti regime that Daddy Bush was so quick to rescue. Or pause to think what it must be like to be a Palestinian living on the West Bank, or even in Israel. (That was a very measured resume, I.hurricane.)

I just hope Whistle Stop isn't putting too much faith in the fact that America is Not Alone, because pretty soon it will be (apart from continued UK support, I suppose). The irony is that the monstrous Taliban is actually starting to attract sympathy. As someone said on telly yesterday, if Mike Tyson gets in the ring to fight a child, it's obvious who the crowd's going to support. America bombing Afghanistan is a bit like that.

Kim (and DougR), the UK - if that's what you mean by "my" country - imports far more consumer goods than it exports, exactly like the USA, but obviously on a much smaller scale.

As I said earlier, its overseas aid budget is three to four times greater than the USA's, pro rata, but still pitiful compared with the Scandinavian countries; Japan, Germany, etc. Just like the USA, the UK requires that much of the aid it gives comes back into the country in return for British goods, especially arms. All this notwithstanding that the UK is governed by a party that came to office promising "ethical foreign affairs policies."

Within the UK the gap between rich and poor is much less than in the USA, but governments from Thatcher onwards, including the present one, have been addressing that. So rest assured, the gap is widening fast.