As a teenager when Bobby Sands was starving himself to death, I remember the prevailing mood in Britain was "please kill yourself and persuade as many of your comrades to kill themselves as you can. Go for it!"

Later I remember feeling a kind of pity mingled with contempt; was Sands really so silly as to think Marget Thatcher, of all Prime Ministers, would actually give a flying fuck if he killed himself or not?

Later still I realised Sands' delusion was shared by the leadership of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).

They were actually fuck-witted enough to belive that they could bomb the British government and its people into submission. This was a nation that had built an entire epic image of itself as the country that was NOT bombed into submission by the far more formidable Luftwaffe in 1940-41.

The idea that a few bombs placed in pubs and railway stations would do anything but make people more determined not to compromise with the PIRA was utterly insane.

It took 30 years (!) before PIRA realised that duh, maybe we've been fought to a standstill before the thoughtful Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness realised that a compromise would have to be sought; that led to 12 years of relative peace, broken recently by a bunch of fuckwits called the 'real' IRA.

Sigh... some people never learn.

Its THE NETWORK, remember? THE NETWORK!

Ballard's ideas were interesting but at best his prose style was workmanlike, at worst it was awful.

Most of his work is set in the near future, yet it has dated horribly. As a prophet and visionary his only value was that he was always wrong about the future, which is a case for optimism.

No surprise then that his most successful book is his most conventional. The excellent "Empire of Sun" is a thinly disguised memoir of three horrific years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the 1940s.

By all accounts he was a kind and decent man, but he wasn't a good writer, let alone a great one.

What is that disgusting smell?!?

Oh. Joe Lieberman just walked into the room.

What is the disgusting putrid smell?

Oh. Joe Lieberman just came in.

As a frequent visitor to the United States for about 20 years now, here are my observations:

1) The Clinton years will be looked back on as a golden age of prosperity and full employment.

2) Things went horribly wrong around the year 2000, with a vicious recession followed by a 'jobless recovery.' Domestic issues were somewhat ignored what with the horrifying attack of 9/11 and the subsequent 'war on terror.'

2) Things went horribly wrong again last year, and the country is in a poor state.

I believe this latest recession is worse in depth and effects because for many people, there was never a sustained recovery after 2000. Instead many people scrimped and struggled and managed to find low paying jobs. It's this class of people, who never really recovered from the 2000-2003 downturn that are the true casualties this time around - for them the American dream is finally over - survival has become the only realistic option.

Last thought - if you happen to be in finance or the very upper levels of any mediu or large size company, none of the above applies - you've been doing great since the 1980s and can't understand what all the fuss is about!

What's that DISGUSTING PUTRID STINK?!?

Oh, Joe Lieberman just walked into the room.

Another excellent article Glenn, thank you.

The terrible irony is that by adopting this hardline stance, supported by ignorant/terrified of AIPAC US politicians, Israel is making the two state solution impossible to achieve.

Assuming that does happen, then Israel's future means the rejection of democracy, or the end of the Jewish state. Both options are much worse than a sensibly negotiated two state solution.

But Israel isn't only potential massive loser here. The USA, alone with it's unconditional support of Israel, will find it's own foreign policy increasingly damaged by such support. This applies not only to the Middle East, but also the rest of the world including European democracies and upcoming powers such as India, China and even Japan.

It's difficult to exaggerate how much sympathy there is for the Palestinians and how much hatred there is for Israel throughout the world. Yes, some of this is undoubtedly the result of anti-Semitism, but a great deal is generated by a humane desire for justice.

Unconditional support for Israel damages American interests every single day.

A really brave and commendable act by Southwest!

Flying is at best a miserable boring chore, and as such it is cruel to inflict it on young children.

The guy sounds like a typical Zionist jerk to me - representative of at least 25% of the entire US legal profession.

You might consider coming to work wearing a nice keyffiyah, and putting up a small Vist Palestine postcard on your wall. It'll also reveal just how liberal your other colleagues are; PEPs - (Progressive Except for Palestine) are distressingly common in the United States.

Seriously, you need to get out of that law firm - I had an obnoxious colleague a few years ago and when I finally changed jobs and worked for a new outfit, I kicked myself for not making the change sooner. We all have coping mechanisms, but sometimes they work too well and persuade us to tolerate vile circumstances that we shouldn't bother with for a second longer than necessary.

Back in 1947, Jews only owned 7% of the land of Palestine.

Since then it's just been land theft after land theft after land theft.

Theft of land is basically all Israel is about, and land thieves is all that Israelis will ever be…

Unfortunately sooner or later there will be a terrible reckoning when the thieves (or more likely their innocent descendants) get what's coming to them.

In the long term, Israel is as doomed as one of those Crusader Kingdoms from the middle ages.