On the issue of nuclear proliferation, the Democratic primaries, and the next U.S. president, the Telegraph’s Mary Riddell:

…Assuming the Democrat candidate is chosen by unelected super-delegates, then the party risks being torn apart. The August convention is the last, late chance for Clinton and Obama to agree a deal in which someone concedes graciously. If not, then McCain’s victory may be assured…

“May be“? Given what we are told is the gravity of the situation, why not risk going out on a limb and offer a “will be“? After all, if Sen McCain loses, no one will hold it against you; but if he wins, you’ll look like a true pundit.

But it may not (will not?) matter regardless, as Ms Riddell then goes celestial, informing us:

…It doesn’t make any difference, when the red phone rings, whether the person who lifts the receiver is a black man, a white women or a pensioner. What matters is whether Earth will continue to turn around the Sun…

So the choice of the U.S. president may impact whether or not the Earth falls out of its orbit? If so this election really is far more globally vital than any of us had imagined previously.

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But, on the other hand, if it actually doesn’t matter in that universal scheme of existence (assuming there is one, of course), why are any of us wasting our individual ones reading her Telegraph? Migrants slipping in through Calais fencing doesn’t matter. National road pricing? Who cares? And what difference does it really make if the Proms were to close not with “Jerusalem”, “Land of Hope and Glory” and “The National Anthem”? After all, the Earth will continue to revolve around the Sun, and should do so for a few billion more years, even after nuclear war.

What was that about the Proms, you ask? The other day, the Telegraph was aghast at the latest impressive Labour observation, courtesy this time of Margaret Hodge, MP:

…”The audience for many of our greatest cultural events - I’m thinking in particular of the Proms - is still a long way from demonstrating that people from different backgrounds feel at ease in being part of this….

Yes, it is easy to feel “marginalized”. For instance, I keep wondering where’s Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”? But, for many, her assessment is also an indication of how the Labour motorway pile up continues.

Yet she could have allayed that latter to some extent if she had been willing at least to be truly candid by offering a few viable “solutions”. So, what other pieces would Ms Hodge suggest be fit into the programme? Unfortunately, no “particular” inclusive pieces (”I Shot the Sheriff” or “Pak sarzamin shad bad“, for example) are reported mentioned, so we are left answerless . . . which is usual for Labour.

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After still more from Labour, feel in need of an alcoholic drink? Well, forget it. AOL UK:

A senior police officer has called for a complete ban on alcohol advertising in response to the Government’s review of 24-hour drinking.

Northumbria Police Chief Constable Mike Craik said “more needs to be done” about youth drinking and proposed removing the “uniquely harmful substance out of the normal retail chain“…

…He said: “The drinking culture in this country is a result of a unique and complex social history, together with a plethora of laws, regulations and agencies involved in the control and supply of alcohol.

“If we are serious about wishing to change a national drinking culture, we need to move on from the ‘will we, won’t we repeal 24-hour drinking’ debate and stop looking for spurious solutions in countries which don’t share our problem…

Actually, it’s a shame how in this latest police official’s foray into sociology and mass psychology, there is no nod to this issue: if we are serious, before we can even begin to address those far more more complex societal issues to which he alludes, perhaps there should be a major inquiry into his police force’s apparent inability to cope with the actions of a violent few, even if drunk? After all, the plain fact is that the overwhelming majority of those who buy alcohol “in the normal retain chain” don’t beat passersby routinely to death on the street. No?

Couldn’t have that “review”; it’s easier to try to pin most of the blame on the demon lager. However, given that apparently some even well-educated Britons don’t realize that upcoming Easter is about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, in thinking that an advertising ban might have an impact, it is hardly surprising that we have here a “senior police officer” downplaying how deeply rooted alcohol is in Western culture. And not just in Britain.

Indeed, while we’re on the subject of “a national drinking culture”, Agence France-Presse reports on one in a nearby European partner:

A teetotal group of Swedish lawmakers said Wednesday alcohol-free drinks should be served at official parliamentary functions because alcohol prevents some MPs from fulfilling their duties.

“We want (official functions in parliament) to be alcohol-free by default,” Egon Frid, a member of the opposition Left Party and the head of a group of 14 teetotal MPs, told AFP.

He said those who wanted an alcoholic drink could have one, but they should have to ask…

…”I see that some people have a hard time fulfilling their duties as deputies with all the alcohol that is available,” he said, noting that MPs were often offered alcohol during business gatherings outside parliament as well.

The Swedish parliament, which has 349 members, is currently hammering out an internal policy on alcohol consumption.

“Hammered?” “Hammering out?” Someone at AFP’s been drinking having a laugh. That said, the real possibility of hammered Labour parliamentarians being unable to prop themselves upright in front of microphones in order to spout their latest vacuous prescription for societal betterment is, one has to say, eminently attractive at times.