Pictures of paintballing, the Hawkesbury River, and various other madness now online.

Meanwhile our old and beloved friend George W Bush is busy telling us how we need to step up the war on terror as a ‘robust reponse’. And you can be sure that when there’s a perceived opportunity to get public opinion behind more death and destruction in far-off lands Russian president Vladimir Putin is right there looking for a piece of the action.

Of course, all of this completely ignores the fact that London was a major terrorist target long before American politicians even knew what that meant. The idea of Washington and Moscow preaching to us about how to deal with terrorists would be funny if the timing wasn’t so gratuitously opportunistic. Thankfully the British public simply aren’t that stupid. John Simpson says it all in his BBC article and Robin Cook’s opinion in The Guardian is also definitely worth a read. Plus there are some great humorous quips on this forum here.

Simply put, terrorism is a crime. In our civilised, free society crimes are dealt with by solid police investigation, trial and appropriate punishment. Not by dropping bombs on innocent people whose only crime is being far enough away that we can choose not to care. The ‘war on terror’ is morally equivalent to dropping bombs on Liverpool because some people claim it’s full of petty thieves. Last Thursday also proved it to be a complete and utter failure.

Still, very important to keep a sense of proportion. It is of course a tragedy for those directly involved but it could have been a whole lot worse, and London has experienced many disasters in recent years. The death toll doesn’t seem that far removed from the Paddington rail crash, for example, and terrorism is nothing new to Londoners either.

If I was still there today I would be determined to take a deep breath and carry on living my life as before. There is no reason to let a wimpy little bomb attack change things, and anything it does change is a success for the perpetrators. Stay away from the media frenzy and keep it real. Life must (and will) go on.

2) There’s nothing wrong with a simple ID card, other than pointlessness. But Tony Blair’s plans are not for a simple ID card, they’re for a big computer database that contains all your personal information. What if it gets hacked or infected with a virus? And anyone who says “If you’ve nothing to hide..” might as well install a webcam in their bathroom and send the Labour party the address with the message “I’ll trust you not to watch it (unless I’m a terrorist)”.

3) It’s a good idea to stop shameless profiteering by people who purchase pieces of paper and sell then on at an immense profit. I’m sure we can all survive without the stock market.

4) The Lions beat Wellington 23-6 in front of a largely hostile, booing, mainly-Kiwi crowd. The commentators on local TV described the Lions’ performance as ‘uninspiring’. Maybe both teams could have had a bit more ‘conviction’ but it’s funny how sport becomes ‘uninspiring’ when your team loses isn’t it?

5) I’m still in Auckland. It’s stopped raining all the time.

So the Lions lost to NZ Maori; and on friday the All Blacks defeated Fiji a staggering 91-0. The Lions are putting a brave face on it, but it looks like the spirit of the Sydney world cup is all but dead. Still, New Zealand is home to the world’s best rugby players, even outside the mighty All Blacks. New Zealand teams have won the Super 12 competition more years than not. The Lions are just warming up; they haven’t even wheeled out Jonny Wilkinson yet. All is not lost.

Today, June 6th, is apparently the Queen’s birthday, and lucky New Zealanders get a public holiday to celebrate. Now that I’m a temping office boy this is a special cause for celebration; not only do I get the day off – I also get paid for it. Fantastic. Working today would have been all the better though, the law here is that working on a public holiday gets you time and a half and a day in lieu. It almost makes up for the sub-standard wages they pay everyone the rest of the time.

Aussi aujourd’hui, les francais et le ‘non’. C’est un grand surprise (!)**. I can thoroughly recommend Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century by Mark Leonard, which I read a few weeks ago. Despite the title Mark makes very clear where he feels the EU, now the world’s largest economy, succeeds and where it will fail. Federalism, presidents and foreign ministers are things he is not only against, but predicts will simply not come about because they would fail to serve any useful function. Plus of course most of us (even a la France) simply don’t want them. Duh.

I’m still in Auckland, staying in The Brown Kiwi. It’s raining a lot, I’m doing dull temping jobs and I’ve just had a very short, sharp cold (all those years in London has made my immune system rapid and thorough). Sydney is definitely beckoning.

*Actually one of these quotes is not Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, but an appropriately altered quote from George W Bush. See if you can tell which.

**Je suis tres desole pour moi francais tres mal

But it’s all good for the voter; with a coalition pretty much a certainty minority parties get a hand in and are no longer a ‘wasted vote’. Instead of one party getting to do whatever they want, they have to negotiate for votes; if something’s a bad idea it simply won’t fly, no matter how keen the government is on it. The Greens have managed to sustain New Zealand’s proud ‘GE Free’ (aka GM Free) status as well as their historic Nuclear-free status, and the public are right behind them.

Anyway, back in Blighty you look set for a classic two horse race with Tony’s cronies the firm favourite. How insanely boring. Watching these slimy idiots bicker about the pithy differences between their policies is a waste of time. When push comes to shove they never keep their word anyway. The best thing for British democracy right now would be a hung parliament and a coalition government. That way they have to behave.

Charles Kennedy might not have much chance of making it to number 10 but I’d love to see him being a complete pain in Tony’s backside. That would be priceless, and highly effective.