MORE NOTES: AZERIS VOTE, GUY FAWKES, IRAQ INQUIRY, TROOP MORALE AND QUIZZES
Very busy in my real life at the moment so still no proper posts . . .

There are elections in Azerbaijan today. The Economist has a good primer on this, Katy of blogrel is there now and Eurasianet is a good source for incoming news. This is quite an important event in a region whose strategic relevance has grown due to oil and being in the neighbourhood of Iran and the Nastystans. How the elections run today will have important ramifications. Ideally the elections will run smoothly and be fair. This in turn will enable the country to reform, make Western engagement such as military bases acceptable and help a peaceful resolution of the Karabagh conflict with Armenia. If this doesn't happen, and there is a real risk of this, there are two basic scenarios that are problematic. If incumbent holds on to power illicitly and the West stays, we will be compromising our moral standing and credibility. On the other hand, if we pull out, this might heighten the propensity of the Azerbaijan regime to seek a military solution to the conflict with Armenia. Needless to say such a war would be catastrophic for all involved but that's never stopped unstable dictatorships from going down that route for their egos and to cement crumbling regimes at home. As long as there is Western engagement in the region and the country, the West will try to quell any war as this would be deeply damaging to our interests. So I think we have a bit of a dilemma to solve if the current regime hangs on to power. (As for solving the Karabagh conflict, the first rule that outsiders should lay down and enforce would be one of absolute non-violence. And whichever side violates the ceasefire should then be treated as an illegitimate aggressor.)

Remember, remember, the fifth of November . . . The 400th time this year round. Clive Davis has some disappointing observations to make. Certainly the past five years the tradition of Bonfire Night has been pretty hollowed out. While I was at uni there was not a single event, but there were countless Halloween parties. I have nothing against Halloween, seeing as it connects to warm childhood memories, but it is still a shame that it is driving out Guy Fawkes. But that's the thing you see, if you abolish or downgrade national traditions like that what you end up with is not some bold global humanist utopia but rather more you will end with the resulting vacuum being filled by the commercially most available alternative. And that will normally be American for better or for worse. (I wrote an essay on Guy Fawkes' enduring relevance yesterday, but the footnoting went awol so you'll have to wait a little for that.) On the other hand, as our penchant for turning everything into a booze-fuelled mess, we all know what any festivities in this country tend to descend to . . . ;)
By the sounds of it so far this looks like an Iraq inquiry that makes sense:

For once we might actually get an investigation into the management of the war, particularly the post-invasion planning, rather than the endless and irrelevant arguments about wmd.

Sticking with Iraq, news is in that the stress levels of our troops have now reached those of World War Two. Things must have got much worse in Iraq, right? Well, not quite. It's mainly down to a fear of being prosecuted for killing an insurgent. The trial against seven Paras that collapsed this week is a good case in point. Despite no credible evidence for wrongdoing and witnesses who were allegedly being paid to make stuff up, it is fairly bizarre that the whole sordid affair could be drawn out for more than two years. DumbJohn is on form on this.

And now: quiz time! Oh dear, again? I hear you poor reader groan, but I'm having too much fun with this:

Although not immediately apparent fromt his blog's politics, but in my real life this is probably quite true:

QUIZ DAY
Too lazy to write something myself, so here goes . . .
These tests are sometimes a bit odd; in most tests I ended up on the other side of the libertarian/authoritarian divide but there you go:

I MUST BE A NEOCON THEN . . . .
. . . if a quiz says so:

Based on your answers, you are most likely a neoconservative

Not so sure about that. Also note that the CSM completely ignores any domestic policy issue, on which there are a number of vital differences between me and neoconservative positions. A common oversight that reduces the value, in light of the domestic agenda’s defining importance.

TWO YEARS AND RUNNING . . .
Just realised that today is the second anniversary of starting this blog. I have to say I'm quite surprised that I'm still going; I didn't think I'd maintain enough interest. That said there are the occasional periods of drought. There's one at the moment. For some reason I just can't work up any proper interest in current affairs at the moment. Perhaps it's because real life has become really distracting with relocating, a new job and all that. I sure hope so, becaue I won't to be back on top of my game again. Until then of course, the good manners that I try to adhere to compel me to say thank you to my readers, and thank you to those who link to me.

AM I GAY?
After the last online sould-searching test, I though I might do another, just to make sure about that sexuality thing. So, Channel 4’s Gayometer reassures me that

What a boring result. And quite surprising given some of the things people used to say about me . . . But that’s a story for another day. . .

FIRST I’M A UKIP VOTER, A MIRROR READER - NOW I’M A RACIST
These online test thingies are being very complimentary about recently. The political ones were a bit odd, but this one about prejudices is also odd in its results (hat tip to Voice of the Futue; Beeb story here). It told me that:

For the record I’m white, so, huh? I mean I was prepared to accept that I would be subconsciously prejudiced in favour of whites to some degree, but this way round? Oh well, whatever.
They offer quite a number tests on other prejudices too. So, I took the one on sexual orientation which told me that:

Again, for the record, I’m straight. Ought I to reconsider? ;) Yes, I know that’s not what the result means, but again I find it odd, as I would have expected the opposite which I wouldn’t have really been happy about but that I was willing to accept.
I don’t know what these tests actually show us then, but at least they seem to say that my partiotism is intact:

ELECTION LOG 2005: WHO I SHOULD (APPARENTLY) BE VOTING FOR
Thanks to Blimpish for the links to online political surveys (I love these, btw, genuinely).
This one was quite creepy in its result I feel, I mean I am actually not that Eurosceptical at all, and on the rest of the issue I have no idea if they have any policies at all, but this is what the computer tells me how I should vote:

Conservative

I MAY BE AWAY . . .
. . . but I am not being idle. In the current few weeks my internet access is being very irregular and there are actualy real life concerns that need attention too.
However, I am using some of my off time to finish some essay-length pieces, which though largely written and finished eons ago, still need huge amounts of formatting, footnote inserting etc. They will be appearing here sometime soon.
While neither blogging nor blog-reading for quite some time now I have been thinking about what I want to be doing with my site, and after initial thoughts about shutting down, have developed a clearer idea of what this blog of mine is supposed to be achieving. That concept will be revealed along with a new site design sometime in the the nearer future, in about two weeks’ time I guess.
So, plenty of stuff to look forward to.

ROUNDING UP
As you may have noticed my blog has fallen into one of its irregualar posting phases, apologies for that, especially because it’s going to last a little longer too, as I currenlty don’t have quite the neecessary peace of mind to blog properly at the moment. But at least you can look forward to some changes in a few weeks time, including a full site redesign and a proper concept for issue I will cover, which I will then cover consistently to boot. And that is surely something to look forward to.
Anyway, as this week’s stop-gap measure here’s a round-up of some interesrting bits and pieces:

- David Aaronovitch argues we were not lied to over Iraq’s wmd. Well, he makes it sound very compelling and as a hawk I’m inclined to agree, but something still doesn’t quite fit. I supported regime change anyway and continue to do so, but I’m not so sure about this issue. Let’s be honest Mr Blair hasn’t always been a hundred per cent accurate with the facts on other issue either has he? If it did turn out Blair lied, I would not change my mind about Iraq, and it wouldn’t change my mind about him either.

- Turkey continues its effort to become part of the European mainstream political culture:

Well, it doesn’t really bother me too much, I support Turkish membership (just about) in an EU which is more a cooperative low-key stability structure rather than an integrated state for geopolitical reasons alone, so I guess this doesn’t really affect my views. But if I were on of those Europhile integrationist types who wants Turkey to join in his happy big new nation I think I would feel distinctly uncomfortable to see Turkey continuing its campaign to deny to Armenians and Kurds that they have any historical connection to territory that formed their ancient homelands for millenia before it came under Turkish control.

- John Rosenthal explains how the outrage about Rumsfeld’s “Old/New Europe” remarks was fabricated. Given the nigh on hysterical reactions by many parts of European opinion you think he was certainly hitting some raw nerve.

- If you have never heard of the Jewish refugees of the Middle East this gives you an idea.

- Libby Purves tells us to mind our language: what do we mean when we talk of “Middle England”? Purves says it’s simply daft or/and an insult and we should stop. Quite right.

- and finally . .. the porn joke of the week (yeah I know I’m getting desperate); even though it does attach itself to a serious story:

I wonder if in any way he is related to Ben Dover? Or is it just a chnage in the nome de guerre? I think we should be told.

LONDON BLOGGERS AND THEIR FOXES
I have noticed that quite a number of bloggers who are situated in London have been writing about their foxes (see here, here or here). As for that last one I have to say I feel a little guilty about it now, after having one sidling up to my kitchen window with a hungry look on its face. Well I couldn’t help him out; to my knowledge foxes aren’t great fans of nudel and mushroom soup, he stayed hanging around the garden for a while before swiftly exiting the scene. But having a really close look at him, made me think that foxes can actually be sort of cute in a robust sort of way, so I think I shouldn’t have had such a laugh about my fox hunting neighbours.

FOX HUNTING – THE REAL PROBLEM
Thanks to Harry’s Place for the link to a fox problem that I’m actually very familiar with, what with living in Lambeth and all. Those housing estates mentioned start about 50-100 yards from my front door and I can definitely confirm the foxes in the area are a right cheeky bunch. And their nemesis also look quite cheeky. Have a look at this, I found this quite hilarious especially the mischiveous grin on the boy in the front. Brought up fond memories form when I were a lad. . .

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TIMMYHAWK! AND A LOOK FORWARD
A year ago today I made my first posting. Because of this special event I've decided to quote Groan, the Torygraph, the Speccie, Weekly Standard, Prospect or any number of publications to write for them. Look, I'm certainly cheaper than the other people you pay, and anyway, I always give you guys a link. C'mon, gizza a job . . .

Looking back is always a point to look forward too. So what will be happening here in the near future? Several bits and bobs in fact. I'll finally get round to putting up my profile and if I master it I'll get myself some sort of photoblogging thingy up and running. Also I want to change the design of the site a little. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but expect to see a change in the next few days.
Along with the design change I'll be updating my blogroll too. First up I'll be sending the sleeping blogs off away until they perhaps wake up. So, it'll be goodbye to au currant, Full Spectrum Democracy, Beirut Calling and UK Free Democracy. Blogs come and go quite rapidly and too often the ones you really like reading vanish so quickly. Gil Shterzer's was always worth reading and often had some cool popular culture stuff. I also wonder what became of Mrs LibDem? Politically quite disagreeable, but actually well written.

Some go, others come: Voice of the Future, written by a man who has good taste in music and a voice of a younger type of conservative (hence the title I suppose), House of Dumb is often witty, though quite to the right of me, God save the Queen I've have also been reading for a while now, lots of good analysis. There are a lot of other good blogs out there, some of them I read fairly regularly, but I can't make up my mind which ones to link to. Additionally I once had this ambition to cut down the number of links on my roll, but I think they are just going to increase after all.

As befits such an occasion I also have a lot of good intentions. Number one would certainly be to have a posting a day. I've been posting for a year now and I just have little over 200 posts here. Add to that the fact that I actually made up statistically in the last few weeks when there was less time-pressure on me from uni. I hope I can somehow get that sorted in future with my final year approaching rather fast.

It's is fine tact to thank you all my readers, and of course I do; wouldn't really be that much point in running a blog entirely for myself now would there. Thanks of course also to those of you who link to me.

Anyhows, that's a brief glimpse towards good things to come; there will be more, so keep reading . . .
Cheers!