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We are heading for Italy and will be staying in Milan, Sorrento, Lecce and Bologna. We’ve never been to Pompei before and that should be a highlight of the first week.

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MyBurningEars

Have a great break Mike.

CarlottaVance

Bon voyage! Going by train?

Socrates

Enjoy your break.

valleyboyrevisited

While the cats away......

Mick_Pork

BBC Newsnight ‏@BBCNewsnight

Race relations expert Matthew Goodwin: 60,000 people have subscribed to far right pages on social media since yesterday's attack #newsnight

valleyboyrevisited

Loved seeing Griffin's mug on the front of the Indie...not. Why give fools like him the organ of publicity.It grieves me that e lives in the Principality. Should be deported.

Socrates

Great column on the Republicans from the always accurate Jonathan Chait:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/05/why-john-mccain-hates-republicans-again.html

Mick_Pork

steve swann ‏@steveswannBBC 1m

Abunusaybah claimed on Newsnight that Micheal Adeboloja was approached by MI5 and had earlier been mistreated in Kenya and that UK knew.

AndyJS

Have a great holiday.

Sunil_Prasannan

Have a great holiday, Mike!

old_labour

Buon viaggio!

old_labour

Looks like they are trying to bury bad news after the events of the last few days and on a bank holiday weekend.
Ministers have been warned that many of the Government’s flagship reforms including the universal credit welfare system, the High Speed rail two train link and the replacement of Britain’s aircraft carriers are “unachievable” or “in doubt”.

Garethofthevale

I'm surprised you are going to Lecce but it is a hidden gem of Italy. When I went it was in the summer and the central square was deserted. I remember thinking if Lecce was near Florence or Venice it would be packed with tourists but because it is down in the 'heel' hardly anyone goes there.

Sorrento is lovely and should be pleasantly warm at this time of year - it's probably a good time to visit Pompeii as Vesuvius is overdue a big eruption and there's the risk it might get buried again some day

Milan is very grand and modern and has lots of high end shops if you like that

Bologna has some nice old buildings including one of the world's oldest universities. I have slightly bad memories as I fell over in the snow there but you should be OK this time of year!

Sunil_Prasannan

In Italy, I've only been to Pisa and Florence, and some 13 years ago, but I found them both thoroughly fascinating!

Mick_Pork

Shiv.Upadhyay ‏@SHIV139 2h

Woolwich attack: David Cameron wants to know 'what went wrong' in MI5 via @Telegraph http://soa.li/EoBKIUg

He'll find out soon enough.

Rosie R. ‏@yorkierosie 1h

Dramatic events at BBC #Newsnight studio - 3 Special Branch officers take Muslim Interviewee into custody after his interview with Watson.

Hertsmere_Pubgoer

Have a good holiday Mike, and doesn't all hell (politically speaking) break loose when you normally go away?

Mick_Pork

old_labour said:

Looks like they are trying to bury bad news after the events of the last few days and on a bank holiday weekend.
Ministers have been warned that many of the Government’s flagship reforms including the universal credit welfare system, the High Speed rail two train link and the replacement of Britain’s aircraft carriers are “unachievable” or “in doubt”.

That's bound to work with subjects that simply will not go away like welfare reforms and HS2.

Rebecca Evans AM ‏@RebeccaEvansAM 4h

IDS to be quizzed by MPs over misuse of statistics in his case for welfare reform. http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/05/duncan-smith-face-grilling-mps-over-misuse-statistics … Perpetuating myths about poverty.

Garethofthevale

BTW - this is quite an interesting article on Vesuvius

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110511/full/473140a.html

Socrates

On Italy, I've only been to Rome but I found some of the most wonderful things the less known sights. The Church of St Lantern contains the actual doors to the ancient Roman Senate, which for some reason I found more inspiring than the Colosseum. I suspect the political geek in me found the connection to imperial governance more interesting than the connection to sporting events, no matter the size. The Church of St Clement also has a wonderful 4th Century Christian church beneath it, and beneath that, a Temple of Mithras. Going deep underground to see them really cut you entirely off from the modern world and you could imagine you were back in ancient Rome.

MonikerDiCanio

OGH , when you're in Milan and if you have the time , I suggest you visit Peck ( a sort of Milanese Fortnum's ) in via Spadari ;

http://www.peck.it/it

AndyJS

Interesting fact:

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public between 1990 and 2001:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/7/newsid_4037000/4037997.stm

Sunil_Prasannan

AndyJS said:

Interesting fact:

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public between 1990 and 2001:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/7/newsid_4037000/4037997.stm

Yes, as I found to my cost - I went in 2000!

Socrates

More on Sweden's vibrant communities:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/23/us-sweden-riots-idUSBRE94M0PF20130523

NickPalmer

Have a great break!

AndyJS

Once again alleged terrorists turn out to be from anything other than deprived backgrounds.

The Telegraph reports that one of the younger man's parents was a member of staff at the Nigerian High Commission:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/10079781/Woolwich-attack-Michael-Adebowales-mother-tried-to-prevent-radicalisation.html

Reminds me a bit of the Underwear Bomber, whose father is described on Wikipedia as "a wealthy banker and businessman":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_Farouk_Abdulmutallab

Garethofthevale

AndyJS said:

Interesting fact:

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public between 1990 and 2001:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/7/newsid_4037000/4037997.stm

I lived in Pisa in 1999 and at the time the tower was being held up by big steel cables. The reason for the lean is the sandy subsoil so what they were doing was taking out some of the subsoil on the side opposite to the lean so it would lean less. The cables were there to make sure it didn't fall over while they were messing with the foundations. The idea was to correct the lean enough so it didn't fall over but leave enough to still be a tourist symbol. They said the work would stop it falling over for 100 years.

GIN1138

I remember going to Pompei and visiting Vesuvius when we went to Italy while I was a kid.

Extraordinary place.

Rome and Sorrento are great places to visit, too.

Enjoy it Mr Smithson.

MikeK

Arrivederci Mike, buon viaggio.

FluffyThoughts

Have a good break. Apart from TSE, will Junior be running the show...?

MikeK

Is the

MikeK

Is the city coming to like the idea of UKIP?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10079115/City-firms-switching-from-Tories-to-UKIP-says-Nigel-Farage.html

Socrates

You have to love this part of the world:

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Afghan-university-students-protest-against-women's-rights-27996.html

AndyJS

"Thanks to Dave, it's no longer cool to be posh":

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100218747/thanks-to-dave-its-no-longer-cool-to-be-posh/

Y0kel

Syria:

A sobering stat: Monthly death tolls are now coming in a near twice those at he height of the sectarian conflict in Iraq.

RobD

I hope you have a restful holiday. Thanks again for all the work you put in for this site!

JohnLoony

AndyJS said:

Interesting fact:

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public between 1990 and 2001:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/7/newsid_4037000/4037997.stm

I went to the Leaning Tower of Pisa in 1986. I didn't like it because people could (and did) walk straight out from the internal staircase, directly onto the ledges round the edge, and stand right on the edge where there was a straight drop to the ground. There was no kind of railing or safety mechanism to prevent people from falling or jumping off. A I walked up and down, I kept squashed as close as possible to the central column. I'm not sure if it has been safetyified since its refurbishment.

SouthamObserver

tim said:

"Be in no doubt, Livingstone and the anti-war movement would be appalled if their arguments were played back to them in reverse. Imagine what they would say to the claim that Breivik's terror vindicated the old rivers-of-blood warnings, predicting that decades of multiculturalism would end in disaster, and now it was time to change course. Consider their reaction if the right had seized on the bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in 1999, casting it as the inevitable result of a liberalisation of gay rights that was bound to radicalise a certain young male demographic and that therefore a policy shift was in order.

Of course they'd have rejected such logic utterly. But if it's wrong for the right to seek vindication in acts of brutal violence, then it's surely wrong for the left to do the same. Nor is it any good for the latter to say, "we're not justifying, we're simply explaining": the right said the same about Breivik. Nor can they claim theirs is no more than a cold, analytical judgment, merely forecasting rather than endorsing the logical consequences of a current course of action. Their opponents could and did say the same about multiculturalism after Breivik.

As it happens, I too once made the case that the war in Iraq would only fuel more terror on our own soil. But what happened in Norway has made me hesitant to use that argument any longer. For now we know that there are minds twisted enough to be provoked to kill by any policy they despise. If you believe western foreign policy is wrong, then argue that case. But don't rest your argument on the threat of blowback violence against us. For as we have learned at great cost, in today's world horror can come from any direction."

@j_freedland: When killers strike, should we listen to what they say? My column on Woolwich http://t.co/NjXySRRuGo

I was just about to post a link that - an excellent article and absolutely bang on.

JackW

Take plenty of knotted hankies Mike .... you know why !!

Enjoy.

MikeK

Good morning. Browsing through the newspapers on line this morning, I notice that stories about Woolwich have had the comments section by readers suspended or withheld, in most of them. The Telegraph being a major withholder.

Mick_Pork

SouthamObserver said:

tim said:

"Be in no doubt, Livingstone and the anti-war movement would be appalled if their arguments were played back to them in reverse. Imagine what they would say to the claim that Breivik's terror vindicated the old rivers-of-blood warnings, predicting that decades of multiculturalism would end in disaster, and now it was time to change course. Consider their reaction if the right had seized on the bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in 1999, casting it as the inevitable result of a liberalisation of gay rights that was bound to radicalise a certain young male demographic and that therefore a policy shift was in order.

Of course they'd have rejected such logic utterly. But if it's wrong for the right to seek vindication in acts of brutal violence, then it's surely wrong for the left to do the same. Nor is it any good for the latter to say, "we're not justifying, we're simply explaining": the right said the same about Breivik. Nor can they claim theirs is no more than a cold, analytical judgment, merely forecasting rather than endorsing the logical consequences of a current course of action. Their opponents could and did say the same about multiculturalism after Breivik.

As it happens, I too once made the case that the war in Iraq would only fuel more terror on our own soil. But what happened in Norway has made me hesitant to use that argument any longer. For now we know that there are minds twisted enough to be provoked to kill by any policy they despise. If you believe western foreign policy is wrong, then argue that case. But don't rest your argument on the threat of blowback violence against us. For as we have learned at great cost, in today's world horror can come from any direction."

@j_freedland: When killers strike, should we listen to what they say? My column on Woolwich http://t.co/NjXySRRuGo

I was just about to post a link that - an excellent article and absolutely bang on.

Because Breivik is just the same as the US and UK governments isn't he? Just like those against the Iraq War like Robin Cook are no different to the far right. *rolleyes*

dr_spyn

I found to my cost it was €15 for about 20 minutes - but it was worth it.
Wasn't sure when I might visit Pisa again, but also wondered if it would be open again.

Sunil_Prasannan said:

AndyJS said:

Interesting fact:

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public between 1990 and 2001:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/7/newsid_4037000/4037997.stm

Yes, as I found to my cost - I went in 2000!