Marcus East

LONDON (AFP) — Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered a crushing election “bloodbath” Saturday, as his party lost control of London’s City Hall on top of its worst poll results for 40 years across the country.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone was ousted by maverick conservative Boris Johnson, compounding a day of devastating local ballot results for Brown’s Labour Party which augur badly for a general election due within two years.

Some commentators called the poll Brown’s “John Major moment” — likening his fate since succeeding Tony Blair last year to that of Major’s collapse at the ballot box after succeeding Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s.

AFP: London mayor ousted as British PM suffers poll ‘bloodbath’.

Well done Boris - what a stunning victory for the Conservatives and for London!

However, I do feel for Ken Livingstone somewhat, because he undoubtedly suffered because of the “Brown Effect” and we shouldn’t forget how important he has been in building the position of London Mayor into such an important role for our country.

Ken is an impressive politician and, despite his many gaffes, I believe that he always had London’s best interests at heart.

But Ken is history, and I’m excited to see how Boris is going to perform in a job that will make him, arguably, the most senior Conservative politician in the country – at least until the next General Election.

When I was knocking on doors in Enfield (“Hello, I’m representing the Conservatives and Boris Johnson”) there was an obvious affection for Boris and I think that he will be able to build on this to become an incredibly popular and effective mayor.

I hope that he will be able to throw-off accusations of being a ‘clown’ pretty quickly. It’s amazing that someone who was educated at two of the best educational institutions in the world can be considered a buffoon!

The proof is in the pudding, but I am certain that Boris’ election marks the beginning of a new political era, one in which the Conservatives will secure power in a way not dissimilar to New Labour’s rise in 1997.

Well done Boris!

A judge in New York has acquitted three police officers who shot dead an unarmed man hours before his wedding.

Sean Bell, 23, who was black, was shot as he left a strip club in the suburb of Queens in November 2006.

Two detectives, Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora, faced charges of manslaughter. A third, Marc Cooper, had been accused of reckless endangerment.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Police acquitted over NY shooting.

What a shockingly sad story… It’s incredible that a man could be shot fifty times on his wedding day, whatever the circumstances.

However, how has this become a matter of ‘race’ when two of the police officers who fired the shots were black themselves?

I can entirely understand how this could stimulate concerns about the appropriate use of force, but I’m not sure I understand the logic behind the chants of ‘racist’ and ‘KKK’ at the policemen after their acquittal.

Surely, such political agitating risks polarising the debate and undermining an investigation into the real issue which is one of brutality and unreasonable force, not race?

Tags: NYPD, Shooting

Christians clash at Jesus’ tomb on Orthodox Palm Sunday
An Israeli police officer, left, tries to break up a fight between Greek and Armenian clergymen during Palm Sunday processions for Orthodox Holy Week, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed by many to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, Sunday April 20, 2008. Greek and Armenian priests scuffled at Christianity’s holiest site on Palm Sunday over who’ll get to spend more time at the traditional tomb of Jesus. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is jointly administrated by different Christian denominations. Fights often erupt during religious ceremonies over shared space or time. An Israeli police officer, left, tries to break up a fight between Greek and Armenian clergymen during Palm Sunday processions for Orthodox Holy Week, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed by many to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, Sunday April 20, 2008. Greek and Armenian priests scuffled at Christianity’s holiest site on Palm Sunday over who’ll get to spend more time at the traditional tomb of Jesus. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is jointly administrated by different Christian denominations. Fights often erupt during religious ceremonies over shared space or time. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Christians clash at Jesus’ tomb on Orthodox Palm Sunday - Boston.com.

It might sound shocking, but I visited the tomb with Erin at Easter, and it’s certainly the case that the environment is ‘tense’ and I was not at all surprised to read this story.

In many ways, it reflects the difficult relationship between religions – and groups within religions – around the world.

However, it is a real shame that such a holy place is not considered sacred enough to be more important than human foibles – I hope that the people who have been captured in these photographs will be sufficiently embarassed to ensure that it doesn’t happen again!

A gourmet coffee blended from cat droppings is being sold at a London department store for £50 per cup.

Jamaican Blue Mountain and the Kopi Luwak bean are used to create Caffe Raro which is thought to be the most expensive cup of coffee in the world.

Kopi Luwak beans are eaten, then passed, by the Indonesian Civet cat and sell for £324 a kilogram.

All profits from sales of the coffee at Peter Jones in Sloane Square in April will go to Macmillan Cancer Support.

BBC NEWS | England | London | Cat dung coffee up for £50 a cup.

Interesting… I’m not a fan of coffee, but I wonder how this actually tastes?

I didn’t immediately get into LOST because one of my rules is: “Don’t believe the hype…”

However, I was slowly drawn in by the beauty of the characters (physical and human) and slowly became hooked as the story slowly weaved its way through the jungle. At stages, some of the earlier series looked like they it was going to turn into a straightforward horror / monster / weird stuff story, but Season Four has taken things to a new level by revealing just enough confirm that we’re not being played with, without ever quite revealing the full picture. This is one of the few programmes that I have watched that gets better as time goes on.

I understand that some people are complaining about the price of purchasing it on iTunes, but the convenience that this provides means that it represents great value for money. When you’re stuck in an airport in the middle of Siberia, and it is -17 degrees outside, the ability to watch your favourite programme on your iPhone to kill a few tedious hours makes it almost priceless. I’d pay £1.89 to make each hour fly by all day long!

No, my only concern is the unfeasible beauty of all of the female characters. If ever I was on a plane with ‘Kate’, I would want it to crash on a desert island in the hope that we would be the only survivor and that we wouldn’t ever be rescued.

This is an outstanding series and I await each new episode with the same level anticipation that I had as a child waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve, before I realised that Santa was actually my father, fuelled-up on Eggnog.

This is powerful, intelligent story-telling, beautifully shot and written and it injects a healthy dose of science-fiction and philosophy into a glamorous setting for those clever enough to notice and disciplined enough not to be distracted by the eye-candy. This is classic television and I defy anyone who watches two episodes not to be ‘LOST’ in it themselves.

Prince Harry has been secretly serving on the front line in Afghanistan with British troops since December, it emerged today.

The 23-year-old, who is third in line to the throne, has spent the past 10 weeks as a forward air controller (FAC) in the dangerous southern province of Helmand, guiding fighter jets towards suspected Taliban targets.

Prince Harry secretly serving in Afghanistan | UK news | guardian.co.uk.

I think that this is fantastic – good on Prince Harry for finding a way to get out there, and he’s a brilliant soldier by all accounts

For the first time, Britain is now a greater contributor to the World Bank fund than the United States.

Britain overtakes U.S. as top world bank donor - International Herald Tribune.

Another sign of the Dollar’s weakness, or a longer-term reflection of things to come with the US economy?

Chimpanzees have an extraordinary photographic memory that is far superior to ours, research suggests.

Young chimps outperformed university students in memory tests devised by Japanese scientists.

The tasks involved remembering the location of numbers on a screen, and correctly recalling the sequence.

The findings, published in Current Biology, suggest we may have under-estimated the intelligence of our closest living relatives.

Until now, it had always been assumed that chimps could not match humans in memory and other mental skills.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Chimps beat humans in memory test.

This is quite incredible to watch – but is reacting to patterns and sequences really an indication of intelligence, or is it just an ability that is not that useful to us and so has been lost?

Either way, a surprising result!

Drought-stricken Australia is struggling to cope with the worst dry spell on record, which has even resulted in murder…

The two rivers which feed the Murray-Darling basin in the southeast of the country are so low that there will soon only be enough water for drinking supplies.

Sydney resident Kenny Proctor, 66, was watering his lawn when he was allegedly accused by passer-by Todd Munter, 36, of wasting the precious resource.

The pair reportedly argued and Mr Procter is said to have turned his hose on Munter who allegedly retaliated by kicking and punching him to the ground.

The grandfather suffered a heart attack and died. Ironically he had been watering his garden at one of the few times permitted - after 4pm on a Wednesday.

Channel 4 - News - Drought results in Aussie man’s murder.

I couldn’t believe this when I first heard it, but it appears to be true – what a tragic and pointless loss of life!

Is this a taste of what we may experience in the future?

Some observers suggest that water will become the most valuable resource in years to come – let’s hope that what our cousins down in Australia are experiencing is not an indication of what our future holds in store…

Gordon Brown’s competence as PM has come under fire during heated Commons exchanges following the donations row.

David Cameron said there had been “disaster after disaster” since Mr Brown took over, and asked if he was “cut out for the job”.

Lib Dem acting leader Vincent Cable said Mr Brown had gone “from Stalin to Mr Bean” in a matter of weeks.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown under fire over donations.

Uh-oh! When your opponents start ridiculing you, the game is up.

When Blair was criticised for his arrogance and his brass balls, there was an element of compliment in the insult.

When someone calls you ‘Mr Bean’ it gets pretty hard to hold on to your reputation.

Alas, Mr Brown has discovered what it’s like to have one of the shortest honeymoons in the history of British politics – and boy has the tide turned fast.

I would be more sympathetic if it wasn’t for that ‘no election’ shambles. It was obvious that he was considering it, and by not going ahead when the polls turned, he demonstrated a kind of weakness that is very unattractive.

Blair, one of my political heroes, would certainly never have done that – and I always knew that people would begin to miss him…

Being likened to Stalin at least has some positive overtones in terms of one’s control of events, people and things. But being called Mr. Bean in the House of Commons has just got to hurt.

It will be interesting to see if he can recover. I suspect he still wishes that he was Chancellor!

However, he has considerable intellect and good political instincts so watching his fight-back will be fascinating - politics just got interesting again!

Tags: Gordon+Brown, Mr+Bean, Labour+Party