Glad to see Munir Hussain has been freed. He should never have gone to jail in the first place. It seems to me that our judicial system ignores the fact that we are human animals and that we do have, and respond to, instincts. When threatened we switch into defence mode which turns to aggression, it's only natural. This man and his family had been threatened, tied, beaten and terrorised. When he managed to get the upper hand he chased the felon and gave him a good hiding. Good for him. As far as I'm concerned I would like any criminal breaking into my house to be terrified of what would happen to him if I caught him. Better still, I'd like him to be terrified of what would happen if the police caught him, but, I 'spose that's a forlorn hope. At least Lord Judge seems to have some idea of the public feeling on this matter. Why do we care what happens to criminals during the course of their criminal activity (I don't but it seems the authorities do)? Surely getting beaten up should be an occupational hazard! Unless you are an experienced fighter, which most of us are not, you only get one chance to have a go at an intruder, who may well be an experienced fighter, so you have to make it count and that means you have to make sure he cannot get up after you have hit him. That's hardly the best circumstances in which to make a proportional judgement on how hard to hit him.

Nice to see the politicians lining up at the Chilcott enquiry to say how much they regret going to war with Iraq on a false premise. I doubt they regret it as much as the families of the dead soldiers! Be interesting to hear what Gordon has to say when he gets there. I expect it'll be something like ''making the right decisions'' or ''doing what's best for Britain'' or something else equally meaningless. I don't doubt Teflon Tone will get an easy ride.

That's it for now.

Well here we are, I have a blogg. Just got to think what to put on it now. I'll start with the weather (I'm British!). Why oh why does a little bit of snow screw up the entire road system? I went out this morning and about an inch of snow had fallen; that's not much but the traffic on the main roads was at a standstill! Why? The main roads were only wet, no different than if it had been raining, so why was everywhere gridlocked? Anyway, I came home. I don't understand why people have so much difficulty driving in the snow, it's not hard. Granted hills can be a bit tricky and so are best avoided if possible, but, ordinary roads aren't a big problem, just take it slower, feather the throttle, keep off the brakes as much as possible, use gearbox/engine to reduce speed, if you have to use brakes then a series of gentle presses is best. I'm going to change the subject now 'cos I'm getting irritated just thinking about it.

I've just been reading in the paper about Alastair Campbells appearance at the Chilcot enquiry. I'm not sure what is most annoying about that man, his arrogance or his stupidity. I know it's a news paper report but I assume the quotes are accurate and if they are then the inquiry panel really should have nailed him to the wall over some of his contradictory statements. Blair should be a laugh when he appears but I don't 'spose they'll give him too testing a time either. Does the rest of the world laugh at us or pity us? I don't know.

Right, General Election. I'm trying to work up some enthusiasm about this as it is a chance to get rid of the current bunch of tossers and replace them with, well, another bunch of tossers most likely! Therein lies the problem with politics at the present time, who is any different to make it worth while dragging my sorry arse out to vote for them? In fact I'm of the mind that we should all stay at home and not vote at all. A national vote strike, maybe that will get the message through their thick skulls. I'd pay good money to be at the results to hear the returning officer say '' the votes cast are as follows; Conservatives, ah no votes; Labour, ah no votes; Liberal ah .....''. What good late night telly that would make, especially if some scrawney little independant oik from the Flat Earth Society got in with two votes. It'd be wonderful if it happened but it won't 'cos we're all too docile to make a stand and we believe, wrongly, that voting for a change will improve things - it won't.

Europe. Will I live long enough to vent all my feelings? I doubt it. Some twat in a local paper this week berated EU sceptics for their scepticism and asserted that the EU is a huge market for Britain and how could we possibly survive without EU trade. Where do these people get their ideas? (politicians). Our trade deficit with europe is huge. We buy far more from them than they buy from us. They couldn't afford to be difficult with us 'cos they'd lose too much business! I long ago came to the conclusion that the EU is very good for politicians (pay, expenses, lots of jetting about etc.) but of no value to the rest of us. That's why they won't let us have a say on membership 'cos they're worried we'll take their big, new, shiney, expensive toy away. If Hitler could only see how it all works now he would see how he could have done it so much more easily and with far better results and no bad press.

That's it for now. I'll be back tomorrow talking about Gordon Brown and what would make a good prime minister.