Has some pretty good pastiche of the period, with lots of Edgar Rice Burroughs and H.P. Lovecraft references. Fair amount of action, nice easy reading, a few interesting ideas.

Thought it was a bit lacking in terms of an overall plot though: more like several novellas loosely stitched together. It's not really clear what the individual actions are attempting to achieve, and the climax seems a bit perfunctory.

Also I had some problems with the gimmick behind it, which left the rules a bit unclear. It's never spelled out what impossible things are possible. And I found it harder to care what happened knowing that they were all in a simulation, and the real history of the Earth was unchanged.

Overall, pretty decent retro entertainment.

Museums
Dropped in at Tate Modern and had a look at the Cy Twombly exhibition. Last of the abstract impressionists. Thought it was absolute bollocks: semi-random daubs with no interesting form, no particular aesthetic impact.

However, he has a high reputation, so my opinion is probably wrong.

Also went back to the Street and Studio photography exhibition that I zoomed through. That seemed a lot better with more time to spare: has some interesting modern portaits as well as more modern stuff. One Dave Gorman-ish gimmick I thought was interesting was a guy who went round the world getting cheesy studio photos from various countries, so you could compare their styles.

From the vaults
With Gordon Brown in office for over a year, dug through the vaults a bit.

7 May 2005:

Still not convinced Brown has the charisma or political ability to be effective though: he doesn't speak or interview well, and would rapidly accumulate damage if in the Prime Ministerial firing line.

Can't see Brown getting more than one term though

He has very little charisma. His years in the Downing Street bubble have eroded what little of the common touch he had. Which was never very much: remember "neo-endogenous growth theory?" Notice that Brown tends to shy away from tough interviews even more than Blair: he's intelligent but not fast on his feet.

It's always the PM who takes most of the flak: faced with defensive press conference after defensive press conference Brown will look a little worse each time, unlike Teflon Tony.

My hunch: if Brown takes over late in the next term he'll get re-elected once. If he takes over early he'll be defeated in the subsequent election.

Web
Fighting Fantasy covers with alternate titles.

Peter Tatchell: stop talking about the "gay gene". (Reminder for non-UKians, he's the guy who tried to arrest Mugabe).

Lego's vault of All Sets

Socioeconomics from Stumbling and Mumbling: Equality of opportunity without greater equality of resources is just impossible.