Somehow or other I managed to miss a lot of the Live 8 gig on tv on Saturday. I did manage to tune in in time to see Madonna doing her thing and shouting, "Are you fucking ready?", which according to today's paper, got 354 complaints. So it just goes to show that while Africa remains in a bad way ('fucked' if you will) and despite the effort to bring attention to the issue, some people still prefer to be offended by one of the oldest, best and most versatile words in the English language. Dear me.

And it seems as if things have started to kick off in Edinburgh ahead of Wednesday's G8 clown convention. There was footage on the news tonight that I only really saw in passing but could be described in broad, inaccurate terms as cops beating hippies in submission. So who knows what's going to happen in two days time. Apart from some kind of progress on the way the West treats Africa, I've got to be honest and say that George Bush choking on a stray golf ball is quite far up my wish list.