And more reasons to be miserable....

From yesterday's Guardian diary. Why do we worry about the state of the country - indeed, the world, again? Hmmm... Anyway, here you go:

"Meanwhile, the hunting debate remains the most elevating exchange of views in British politics, with yesterday in Brighton its glorious fulcrum. On the one hand, pro-hunt campaigners made some still obscure intellectual point by dumping four animal carcasses in Brighton city centre. And on the other, conference organisers banned the League Against Cruel Sports from selling their fox glove puppets, apparently out of concern that delegates might have waved them too excitedly during Blair's speech. Such class!
By the way, if anyone's wondering where the real debate's taking place, it appears to be on Five's reality TV show, The Farm. The programme's first night yielded a heated discussion between the various celebrity contestants about racism. The second featured a debate over the Iraq hostage crisis, which resulted in diminutive magician Paul Daniels squaring up to the profoundly imbecilic former US rapper, Vanilla Ice. Paul Daniels has now left the show. Anyway, if you're inspired by the fact these arguments are being rehearsed on reality TV - by the former Every Second Counts presenter and a man once spotted reading Smash Hits with his finger - while Brighton rocks to the sound of glove puppets fighting it out with animal corpses, why not give the Diary a call? We want to hear from you."

Marvellous - thank you, Marina Hyde. At least it's not just me...