Prescott defends quake response (BBC News)

Prescott’s on the defensive. And all because Mr Blair won’t cut his holiday short.

John Prescott is an absolute dream of a politician, at least as far as comedians go. He’s always angry. He desperately tries to sound sympathetic to the poor people in Asia, and yet comes across as livid as the questioner. And despite what he actually said in the interview, his body language and tone really seemed to suggest that he thought Mr Blair should have come home from Egypt. So all-in-all, it was something of a failure of an interview.

Conservative leader Michael Howard said he would have returned had he been in the same position. However, Mr Howard said Mr Blair’s decision was up to the prime minister.

Mr Howard, on the same programme, performed much better than in his rehashed article from this morning, handling the above question rather well, since he criticised the Prime Minister without explictly saying he was wrong. He toed the line, and he did it with great skill. Well done Mr Howard – I think you won this round.

Of course this makes us doubt God’s existence (Telegraph)

The Archbishop of Canterbury is obviously a big fan of this blog, having chosen to respond directly to this post in today’s Telegraph. There’s no possible other explanation.

It reads very much like he had difficulty writing this column – and certainly he should have. It works, though, in it’s own little way. It’s not the best column ever written, but it makes its point, and it works. Though, of course, it would be difficult for the Archbishop to write about God and it not work.

Just one other comment – I don’t know whether he wrote the headline, but I really would have expected ‘us’ to ‘question’, rather than ‘doubt’, God’s existence.

Free trade is as vital as aid (Guardian)

Oh, Michael. Michael, Michael, Michael. What is all this about? It’s a mess of an article. It’s difficult to read because of the. Very short. Sentences. That sound almost. Like legalese. You don’t want to appear to be playing politics with this tragedy, so you don’t criticise the government too harshly. You put forward this ridiculous idea of ‘twinning’ countries, suggesting it’s more logical for an individual country to help another individual country, rather than banding together to help many countries with similar problems. And then you finish it off with a flourish about the importance of the coming year. What’s it all about? What the heck are you trying to say?

I do not have the words to describe the feelings we all shared as we watched the dreadful pictures of the catastrophe that hit so many people in so many countries last week. The scale, the speed and the ferocity of the tsunami have been almost impossible to grasp.

It’s a nice sentiment. If I were you (which I’m thankfully not), I would’ve done a whole column of sympathy, highlighting the plight of the people affected by this tragedy. This might have helped a little in the fight to show you as a caring politician. Rather than Dracula. But you wander off…

The British people have recognised this and have given generously. And the British people have led the way in Britain’s aid effort, prompting the government to step up its contribution from the original sum of £1million first to £15m and now to £50m.

A bit of criticism, nothing too scathing. I’m not suggesting you could possibly do any more, and I would personally have suggested you didn’t bother with this little poke either. But you did. And we’re still afloat at the moment. But then you go temporarily insane.

Individual countries could be matched with some of those affected… Gap-year students could spend part of their free time helping in the work of reconstruction…

Without wanting to turn in to John McEnroe, ‘you cannot be serious’. No credible politician would suggest that when you have a number of countries needing nearly identical forms of aid, it is sensible to split the region up into small pieces, and for different countries to struggle alone in finding the aid needed. And what’s with the gap year student idea? Instead of responding with military assistance, you want to respond with an army of students? Get real.

This year, Britain has the presidency of both the G8 and the European Union.

Where did that come from? It’s very true, but it makes this look like a column that was written some time ago that’s been rejigged in response to this terrible tragedy. Which just makes you look cheap and uncaring.

2004 ended with great sadness, but Britain’s presidency of the G8 and the European Union offers a real opportunity in 2005. By reforming the way we deliver overseas aid, by promoting free enterprise and by encouraging freer, fairer trade, we can help lift millions of people out of poverty. Let us all make sure we do everything we can to use these opportunities to the full.

Nice sentiments, but, again, it looks very much like the first six words have been tacked on. Not least because it doesn’t fit in with the sentence structure you’ve used all the way through. That is, avoiding mid-sentence conjunctions like the plague. You like to separate ideas into difference sentences. You start paragraphs, not phrases, with ‘but’.

So, Mr Howard, if you insist on re-using your columns like this, please (at the very least) do it well.

There’s a special edition of Channel 4 News tonight, all about the Tsunami Disaster. It includes an interview with the PM, and should certainly be worth watching, as Channel 4 News always is. You can catch it at 6.05pm.

British donations top £32m mark (BBC News)

Following this post, I’m now slightly happier to report that Mr Blair has now increased the amount of aid sent to the affected region to £50m. But that’s still nowhere near enough to rebuild tens of thousands of families. It’s clearly a lot better though, and it does make us the biggest international donors.

I’m astounded at the response from the great British public – over £32m has already been donated. This completely unprecedented level of fundraising begins to restore my faith in humanity.

Just a shame TB’s still on holiday, and not on hand to lead the nation.

Tsunami death toll hits 123,000 (Guardian)

I’ve never liked the term ‘death toll’. It’s not nearly sombre enough to communicate the tragedy of large numbers of deaths. Somehow, it is emotionally lacking, and understated. We pay tolls to go over bridges and through tunnels in our cars, or even to drive in Central London, and think little of it. I wish I could suggest an alternative word for people to use instead, but I’ve not yet been able to think of one – perhaps the situation is so terrible for anybody to think of a word that can possibly convey the emotion of the event.

Blair stays on holiday but gives £15m aid (Guardian)

Hundreds of aid workers have given up their Christmas holidays to deal with this crisis – it is unfortunate that our Prime Minister can’t do the same, if only to show some solidarity with those who are giving up the only time of the year they get to spend with their family to travel to scenes of utter horror and try to help those in desperate need. But instead, he’s staying on a luxury, relaxing holiday in Egypt. Lucky him.

And the fact that the British people can outdo their government’s donation within hours shows how pathetic the government’s ‘aid’ has been. If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be laughable.

DEC – Tsunami Earthquake

Please support the official Disasters Emergency Committee’s Tsunami Earthquake Appeal. We all know how terrible the events of the last few days have been for the people living in the regions affected, so please give whatever you can to help support them, and prevent the disaster from worsening.

Wave toll ‘could exceed 100,000’ (BBC News)

Yesterday, I was upset, shocked, and lost at the prospect of 40,000 people having been killed. Today, I read this:

About 77,000 people have been confirmed killed in the earthquake and waves.

The tragedy cannot get any greater, however many more people die. I cannot comprehend the idea of 10,000 people, let alone 77,000 people, losing their lives in one event. It truly is of biblical proportions.

I urge you to browse some of the blogs of people who were there (such as Crossroads Dispatches and Moichido), and try to imagine what a terrible event this has been for all involved. And then go and donate whatever you can to the charities seeking to help these poor, poor people.

How can religious people explain this? (Guardian)

An interesting slant on the Asia Disaster, courtesy of Guardian Unlimited. Certainly worth reading alongside the corresponding (and illustrated) Newsblog item. It must have been a difficult decision for the Editor, whether or not to publish this item in the middle of the crisis itself, but I certainly think that the right decision was made.

If you have not yet read Scott Adams’s books God’s Debris: A Thought Experiment and its sequel The Religion War then you are genuinely missing out on some interesting challenges to traditional philosophies. From the guy who brought you Dilbert. Unlikely, but true. Both books are also available in the ebook format, which I’ve come to love with my Pocket PC (I’m currently making my way though The Da Vinci Code, if you must know). Check mslit.com for details.