"It's a free country"

I stumbled upon this a few days ago: the World Freedom Atlas.

It takes data from numerous sources over a variety of civil rights measures and areas measuring how well-run each country is and then colour codes each country based on its overall score.

Obviously I can't vouch as to the accuracy or reliability of the scores, but it seems quite a useful tool.  The only downside is that it only goes up to 2006.

UPDATE: I've been told that the WFA is close to the US govt, due to its use of Freedom House data, which may impinge on its accuracy...  I've been told that the Global Peace Index is more reliable.  Of course, the same caveats apply regarding its reliability. Thanks to 10% for the info. Tweet

Introducing (new & improved) Mail Watch and Express Watch

While I was on holiday two things happened in the world of media criticism:

• The Daily Mail Watch website was re-launched with more editors and more frequent posts; and
• Express Watch was launched

I've agreed to join on on both of these.

I'll be posting on these in a similar way to how I post on the Sun - Tabloid Lies, i.e. whenever I feel it is required.

I'll also be partly running the Twitter accounts for both Daily Mail Watch and Express Watch, as well as continuing to run the Sun Lies one. Follow all of these accounts.

I've also added permalinks to the Daily Mail and Express Watch sites. Tweet

Bliar's book, excerpted

You may have heard that one of our previous great-and-glorious leaders has written a book.

The Virtual Stoa has taken it upon himself to read the book and twitter excerpts. He my complete sympathy for undertaking such a task.

By the way, well done to the people of Dublin for their reception. Tweet

Holiday in Cambodia Croatia

As you may have noticed, I've not been posting much on here recently.

There's not been any particular reason, simply apathy...

However, from Monday I'll be away from a week because I'll be on holiday with my darling girlfriend Tola.

I'll probably be updating my adventures on my Twitter feed, but it is as yet unconfirmed, because I do not know whether or not I will be able to get a signal. Tweet

This is your Independent on Drugs

Back in 2007, the Independent went all hysterical over cannabis, in particular "super skunk".

Thankfully it has re-evaluated its position and decided that prohibition causes a lot more problems than it solves. Tweet