UN-eventful afternoon
What a very peculiar day. I didn't manage to get any further from my flat than the local off licence, yet it feels like I've been busy ever since I got up. It'll almost certainly turn out to be an illusion over the next few pars, but it still felt full.

Essentially it's been a Heady Mix (journalist's stock phrase no 2793) of helping Dad and watching the United Nations Security Council (yes, on a day off).

In New York, Colin Powell came good for George and delivered "compelling evidence" to the UN about Iraq's naughtiness. Either the evidence he provided was authentic, in which case Saddam is as bad as we all think, or it was fabricated, which would confirm our worst fears about the Bush administration. Then there's always the possibility it's a combination of truth and lies, which would paint both of them in a bad light. After you with the Kleenex, please...

Colin certainly put forward a good case, with what seemed to put meat on the bones of the allegations levelled at Saddam. And while the French, Russians and Chinese weren't willing to let slip the dogs of war, one couldn't help feel Iraq was painting itself into a corner.

Yet it's sad to see someone as obviously decent and intelligent (at least when compared with his colleagues) as Powell reduced to this. When a man who has done much to try to broker peace deals and who personally knows the horror of war (unlike the alleged deserter Dubya), is asked to put forward the case for war, what hope is there of avoiding one?

Of course, it's something I'm going to have to think about at great length, but even after hearing Powell's presentation I still have to fall back on the general feeling that war is Not A Good Thing, and that the Cowboy's two primary motivations are black gold and the opportunity to settle things with "the man who tried to kill my dad" (Clint Eastwood has nothing on this guy!), not "in the name of peace".

I'll return to this, I'm sure, but there still has to be an alternative to war.

And as for Mr Bush and his oft-mentioned high value on life, well, I'll come to that another day...

Frankly, I think Kofi and his chums have got a much easier job than attempting to guide my father through the process of getting his new Mac online. If anyone has any experience with trying to set up an account on a Mac running OsX, I'd be grateful for advice.

For now, I'm off to watch Footballers' Wives, in which a talented young actress (and close personal friend) called Jess Brooks is making her debut.

Oh, and I never got that cup of coffee...