Alex Massie

An interesting but worthless column from Jackie Ashley. "It won't be easy for Gordon Brown to dig himself out of the hole he has fallen into in recent weeks. But a broad back, an ability to say sorry, a coolness under fire and an unwillingness to dump on colleagues would certainly help.” Worthless, I say, because Brown enjoys precisely none of these qualities. Ashley's remedy for Gordon Brown's problems would, um, seem to be that he cease to be Gordon Brown.

Cricket Housekeeping: 1. Since this post making the case that Shane Warne is, indisputably, a greater cricketer than Muttiah Muralitharan it's only fair to note that Murali had the chance to show that he can win matches in Australia as well as Sri Lanka. Granted, the tests were played at Brisbane and Hobart rather than Sydney but still: four wickets at 100 apiece is not an impressive return. 2. England are now preparing - in their usual slapdash* style - for a series in Sri Lanka. Having wisely decided to leave the best English batsman at home (that would be Mark Ramprakash, who, though 38, has enjoyed a Bradmanesque flowering at Surrey) gambled instead on the fitness and mental health of Steve Harmison to find some sort of form. To no-one's great surprise, Harmison is now injured.

Mercy me. Mark Halperin makes a lateish run for Most Incriminating Column of the Year with this entry, published in today's New York Times in which he laments how terrible it is that the media have confused campaign froth with the stuff that might actually indicate whether or not a politician is capable of performing the duties custom and the constitution assigns to the President of the United States of America. Halperin, formerly Political Director at ABC News, argues that: Our political and media culture reflects and drives an obsession with who is going to win, rather than who should win. For most of my time covering presidential elections, I shared the view that there was a direct correlation between the skills needed to be a great candidate and a great president.

Not to intrude into private grief or anything, but how can you children not be amused by this? Croatia rose to the occasion in their crucial Euro 2008 defeat of England - after an apparent X-rated gaffe by an English opera singer at Wembley. Tony Henry belted out a version of the Croat anthem before the 80,000 crowd, but made a blunder at the end. He should have sung 'Mila kuda si planina' (which roughly means 'You know my dear how we love your mountains'). But he instead sang 'Mila kura si planina' which can be interpreted as 'My dear, my penis is a mountain.' UPDATE: Commenter Damir suggests a more accurate translation is: "Mila kuda si planina" means "You (Croatia) are dear to us where you are mountainous.

Via Garance, here is by far and away the best advertisement of this interminable presidential election campaign: UPDATE: Daniel Larison makes the good point that Huckabee's two word plan for securing the border ("Chuck Norris") is an admission that Huckabee doesn't really have a border policy at all (or at least not one likely to appeal to discontented Iowa Republicans). Best - or at least most amusing - reaction to Huckabee's ad comes, of course, from our old friend Witless Fred Dalton Thompson whose campaign spokesman complains that "Mike Huckabee has confused celebrity endorsement with serious policy.