At work today, Wiqqi and I had a chat today about the ongoing Goodhart debate. (Is there a reasonable Left liberal case for arguing that multi-ethnic societies are inherently divided?) Then we pondered the question of exactly how mad Muammar Gaddafi, the Michael Jackson of World heads of state, is. (Does this mean Kim Chong-il is the Elvis of premiers?) The BBC describes how this is, surprisingly, a matter of debate in Libya, too.

The BBC gave me a couple of grim laughs at Libya’s expense in the Radio 4 Midnight News this morning. Firstly, Colin Powell once again gave great quote on the question of the Libyan Prime Minister’s “we were only joking” claim about the country’s admission of responsibility for terrorist acts. Would you feel comfortable if the Secretary of State of the most powerful country in the planet used the phrase “just a little blip that will go away” while discussing you with the World’s press?

My second smirk appeared when the Beeb described the Libyan government’s behaviour in recent history as being “somewhat erratic”.

[Right now I’m laughing at Robin Lustig on the same radio station trying vainly to prod an official of the United Nations to express outrage or even mild surprise at Clare Short’s shocking revelation that people bug his colleagues. Incidentally, do you think it’s deliberate that The World Tonight‘s Web page carries the interestingly misspelled headline “Blunkette to get tough over terror”?]