A Periodic Table of Blogs by Score Bard. Apparently, it has been discovered by the Instapundit last November. But I had not seen it yet and so had to express my excitement by posting this link.

The Greek government doubts that an agreement over Cyprus will be reached before the deadline for negotiations to conclude, which will mean Kofi Annan will be required to impose a solution before referendums are held

As the rest of Europe wonders if the French elections prove the old adage that in all countries the government lies to the electorate, but in France the electorate lies to the government, John Kay in the today’s FT offers reasons why the French voted as they did. Basically France is a nice country to [...]

In its assessment of the debacle for Chirac/Raffarin in this weekend’s French regional elections the German newspaper S?ddeutsche Zeitung asked one pretty pertinent question:
“‘are European societies capable of stomaching unpleasant reforms?’ ”
Certainly the evidence would seem to make it a fairly reasonable question to ask. Sunday’s elections have been billed as a victory for [...]

Two sad recent deaths: Legendary actor/writer/raconteur Peter Ustinov and British Letter From America broadcaster and writer Alistair Cooke

Crooked Timber goes from strength to strength, now adding John Holbo and Belle Waring to the masthead. (John & Belle will also continue to maintain their own blog.)
Kieran Healy notes that CT now has the numbers to field a rugby side. (He even provides a diagramme.) Down in the comments, Cryptic Ned asks:
When?s the [...]

An in interesting Guardian interview with European Parliament President Pat Cox

German President Johannes Rau cancelled the last leg of his nine-day trip to Africa because of credible indications that he would be attacked by terrorists. Given that he was scheduled to stop in Djibouti, where German soldiers are serving in multinational efforts to help maintain order in and around the Horn of Africa, it’s a [...]

Pondicherry is in the news. The former French colony, handed over to India in 1954, has just become the lastest cause celebre in ‘the great outsourcing debate’.
Under the evocative title: Once they were French colonies, now they call back NewIndpress has a piece today on this very topic.

Says Joel Ruet, a researcher with the [...]

If you’re off to the pub in Ireland, leave your ciggies at home. As of today. smoking is illegal in public workplaces. Those near the border may slip across to the wee North for a fag with their pint.