Victory in Montreal (Well, for now anyway)

Well, it looks like we just about won in Montreal. The US wanted to wreck the entire thing. Their delegate arrogantly walked out on the last evening, but was shamed into going back in when the rest of the world (and American public opinion) expressed disgust. The Canadian government even bussed in Clinton to do his "World Statesman" routine and lecture the Bushoes about their responsibilities. Bush is damaged, largely due to the Iraq debacle, and is therefore more vulnerable than ever before. The Republicans will get cleaned out in the House mid-term elections and that leaves more space for US movement. The demonstrations, especially the large one in Montreal but also all the others around the world, undoubtedly played their part. So, it was certainly worth getting up at some unearthly hour and getting to London for one of the most fun demos I've been on. Bradford and Calderdale people, well done!

The full story of Montreal is in today's Observer here, and here. There's some food for thought from South Africa here.

And if you want to find out how climate change will affect our region, check out the Yorkshire Post, here.

P.S. There's definitely a chocolate cake in it now for my students!