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Come on, world, let's see you top this news story this year:Porpoises rescue Dick Van Dyke



Mary Poppins star feared death after apparently falling asleep on his surfboard but friendly sea creatures pushed him to shore

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For anyone not already availing themselves of the astute current affairs commentaries by Konnolsky, (a) why not? and (b) why not? They are initially posted as lengthy responses to online newspaper articles but tend to get speedily deleted, as they usually utterly overshadow what has gone before. However, they also appear at Konnolsky's own Disqus profile:

For protestors advice simple. First, get scale of violence right. If demonstration peaceful but with some breakages, political classes will ignore reason for protest and condemn violence (while secretly laughing). Violence level must be zero or revolutionary, nothing in between. Second, get target right. Why Tory HQ? They not break promise. They just Tories. Besides, top Tories out of country. What is point of trying to sway Baroness Warsi? For political dialogue, person need actual cerebral cortex. But attacking Lib Dems not make sense either. Nick Clegg so expert in convincing himself cuts are fair, benefit restrictions liberal and reactionary measures progressive, he would interpret students pelting him with eggs as endorsement. So like Bolsheviks who storm Winter Palace in 1917, target real seat of power. Where would modern Guy Fawkes attack? Somewhere just East of Millbank, building of historical significance, where all big decisions taken. So next time make sure march route go through Wapping.

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Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe [Labour backbencher]: [T]he demonstrations yesterday were about tuition fees. Today we have the announcement about welfare reform. Next year we will start to see the consequences of the housing benefit changes being introduced, and there will be a growing mood, as I am sure most people will agree, of dissatisfaction in many quarters... I draw attention to what happened in Newcastle when there was the debacle with Mr Moat. We saw that a substantial website was quickly established, with thousands of people signing up to it and supporting him, quite contrary to the view expressed on behalf of the public by the Prime Minister. We then saw a funeral that literally hundreds of people attended, contrary to what most people would have thought would happen. There is a distinct possibility, with the technology that is now available to us—we see this when surprise parties are called by teenagers and thousands of people descend on their home for a party—that in 2011 we will see a different mood entirely with a different technology available that could lead to demonstrations of a nature that we have not previously experienced.

So, if there are protests and riots in the near future, the reason for them won't be cuts or hardship but Facebook? You heard it here first and, probably, last.