YouTube-podcastNo need to have put the blog on autopilot as, much to my other half’s digust, there’s free Wi-fi here in Alicante. Arrived just to discover all these football supporters lurking under the balcony and shot this video just before kick-off.

Having beaten Germany 1-0, the locals packed out the beach and partied hard with fireworks late into the night. And good for them! (Even though this was not a good evening to be looking for a quick bite to eat.)

Next morning not a grain of sand was out of place.

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‘ The similarities between Tsvangirai and [US President] Bush are numerous, they are startling. Both men have a predilection for crime, Tsvangirai having had several brushes with the law for treason stretching back to allegations of spying for Apartheid South Africa in 1989, and Bush of drunk driving. Both failed their nation when it needed them most.’
– Caesar Zvayi in Zimbabwe’s Herald

Most of us in the west struggle to see how anyone can justify Friday’s sham election in Zimbabwe. Tories variously calling for sending in the SAS in Boys Own style or cutting off the electricity only show how limited Britain’s role is despite, Mugabe’s posturing.

The only country with a meaningful role to play is South Africa, but despite race riots at least partly provoked by the strain of taking on Zimbabwean refugees, it is South Africa that protects Mugabe.

Generations of colonial rule have left Africa apparently uninterested in a transition to democracy. In societies with no experience or culture of self-rule, African leaders have found it easy to wield power in the dictatorial manner to which the people had become accustomed. The democratic institutions – like parliaments on the Westminster model – former ruling powers tried to leave behind are all too easily portrayed as colonial impositions.

To the generation that includes South African president Thabo Mbeki, Robert Mugabe is still a hero who led the great struggle against white minority rule… a hero who can be forgiven anything. But these events show great war leaders too often find the transition to democracy too much to cope with; they can never surrender.

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Whenever I pass this ad I can’t help wondering if dirty cars really are more likely to be involved in road traffic accidents.

Studying cars speeding along a busy Barlow Moor Road, the cleaner vehicles appear no easier to spot, but I am suspicious of an Innocent Smoothie delivery vehicle clad in what looks like astroturf.
Uploaded by mobile phone to Stephen Newton’s diary of sorts

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A question mark that hangs over Fairtrade — and every other ethical initiative — is always: will the punters pay?

But here Sainsbury’s prove Fairtrade can be cheap with cotton t-shirts at just £3.

I don’t imagine the cotton pickers are earning a wage that would coax me out of bed, but I trust they’re adults earning more than 20p for a ten hour shift.
Uploaded by mobile phone to Stephen Newton’s diary of sorts