envy etc

Well I think I speak for all of us when I say how envious we are of the Reptile and his various kith and kin spending this week skiing.

Still, let us not linger on that lest depression set in and the Black Dog return to sit at our feet like a faithful pet.

Let us instead cast our mind to the question of the Israeli elections.

It says something for the stature of the man that months into his coma, the vehicle that Ariel Sharon's Kadima vehicle did so well. Surely the best hope for peace that troubled country lies in a reasoned but firm policy that sees some concession and a clear statement that no more can be expected.

Then the PA can settle down and divert their considerable energies to some nation building - building their own institutions and repairing their wrecked people - supported by their Arab neighbours oil wealth in rebuilding, re-educating and reforming a state that has never before existed. Afterall the territory they will then hold will be richer and more fertile than that enjoyed by the nascent Israel in 1947, and they have done OK.

Ain't gonna happen, is it.