I'm really not very good at updating this thing am I? But, given that the chances of anyone actually reading it are slightly better than nill I don't s'pose that matters much. Anyhoo...

Given the response by the Blair/Bush Axis to Iraqi offers to disarm (honest or otherwise) it is interesting to watch Tony Blair's attempts to improve relations with Libya's "Colonel" Gaddafi, a man described by Robert Fisk as "one of the weirdest, battiest, funniest, deadliest Arab dictators of them all." Various right wingers have criticised Blair for what they see as the hipocrisy of his criticism of the Madrid bombings in light of his meeting and greeting the man they hold responsible for the murder of Westerners killed in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie and the British police officer apparently shot from the Libyan Embassy. The dictator's human rights record doesn't seem to be an issue, Libyans - mere Africans and Muslims - are of course unimportant.

Many, including myself, have been distinctly dubious about claims as to the extent of Libya's supposed WMD programme, in light of the lies, exagerations and half-truths which preceded the invasion of Iraq and indeed a report in yesterday's Independent suggests that we haven't been told the whole truth.

It is also interesting to note how quickly Western companies have moved into the country. Shell has already signed an agreement with the country's National Oil Company and arms manufacturer BAE Systems says it is in talks over aviation projects. Whether or not Blair's visit helps to make the world any safer (we can only hope) it certainly isn't going to hurt Britain's capitalists.