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You don't think that so regularly promoting books is just a little old-fashioned, and to the advantage of publishers who tend to strongly filter what appears whilst providing no guarantee of facts having been checked? It's nice to have sample chapters when you post them, but wouldn't interviews, discussion and other highlighting of work fully available on the Net - as many scientific publishers now provide for solid intellectual and democratic reasons - be preferable?

I was going to say that i can't believe that the commons uses thousand year old rainforest wood to use as plywood, but how naive would that sound. Of course they would because no-one really cares about these things anymore do they. Especially our political 'vote for me' ego centric 'betters', so why the hell not? It's only wood isn't it? Precious, non-refundable, non-returnable, non-restoreable wood. Nice to see it just dumped in skips outside too. It'll rot down nicely.

But i heard yesterday that Hampton has also given up its' recycling service because it's too expensive. The people that should be our mentors are just giving up on the environment. So it makes me think how much more widely spread is this?

If government, local and national, doesn't care then it's not surprising that the zeebs in their 4x4s won't care. I mean, if you can happily destroy a rainforest what difference does burning the atmosphere matter? If the council won't give a toss about picking up refuse that can be recycled why should anyone else bother?

We don't want to spend the money thinking about the environment but it's going to cost us dearly. No, i take that back, it won't cost us, it'll cost our children.

And if we don't care about collecting our recyclable rubbish, burning too much fuel or laying waste to ancient and unreplaceable rain forests then presumably we don't care about our children either. Do we?

yha i would like 2 the nhs do not really do much for people that have mental health problies i have been 40mg of fluoxetine sense may ish and i had to go see a docter ever week two time and now i was told that i wouldn't have to see them again tilll 26 sep and now they are trying to say that they have no record of me even come the frist time so now i have 2 go at this all on my own i dont even like take the tab's but i dint know what else to do it as if i have just been left on my own to get thought this bad stage of my life thank bless terry bater

theres tony blair all for 'freedom' and 'democracy' oh and military dictatorships.

After the Glitz & glamour , sex lies, & video!(that didn't work for Pressa but those that did allegedly had an soft time) ! The speeches throughout the week were for the audience there not the wider public. Anaylysed after the tears & sorely clapped hands!... methinks the party faithfull will be thinking "Just what was that all about"....!& with empty coffers!!.. just how are we to pay the Bill?
To conclude, the night after the Manchester love-in, we have"Question Time".. now thats when real people have their chance to ask real questions(censored & denied at Manchester). Innevitably Foreign Policy & Iraq featured heavily...Jack Straw was on the panel & was quized , heckled, abused,it was "pure rage"(if looks could kill!) from the audience for the peoples & soldiers that have been killed & injured in Foreign lands...but mainly IRAQ... that allegedly illegal invasion based on the dodgy dossier & Bush & Blair's determination to attack with "shock & awe"that was wrong! wrong! Wrong! Just as well Richard was doing his best to adjudicate/ moderate. If this was a NL husting ...events could have gone terribly wrong!. An example how the British are still so lividly angry & unforgiving when viewing this terrible governance they call New Labour. I do not understand how Tony Blair won the last election?...it can only be because of soft opposition & those in the electorate tied to NL welfare, electoral borders.."The West Lothian problem "& general spin... lets trust commonsense prevails next time.... giving the Tories a chance.... they couldn't do worse.

Martin amis suggested that chile and uruguay - where he had just returned from after a stay of 18 months - were the only two civilized countries in south america.

Also he suggested that in south america the colonisers abused and then married the indigenous population, (and that this was an improvement on north america). This does not accord with what i heard from a uruguayan recently.

A check with google soon shows quotes along the lines of 'Uruguay's indigenous population was wiped out during the colonization period and there are virtually no descendants remaining.'

Evidently, they are more civilised in uruguay now than in 17th/18th centuries.

I have read and enjoyed some of his books btw.

Your preview of tonight's coverage announced that you'll be speaking with a senior member of the Shadow Cabinet.
Why are there apparently no JUNIOR members of the Shadow Cabinet?

Martin Amis has perhaps become too famous for his own good.This is his second book about Russia,and I cant help wondering whether he has some real family connection with this country,or whether its troubled past is simply a sensationalist vehicle for his fiction.I also wonder whether anyone who has been in a state of virtual starvation for years would be very concerned about questions of manhood.

In fairness to Amis his autobiography did demonstrate a different side to the author.I would recommend anyone who is interested in his work to read the anecdotes relating to his early works,which show a dry sense of humour and irony which is far from obvious.

Can we have all of Jeremy Paxman's weather forcasts - not just the first week please