You have the advantage of me. Obama gave his convention speech a few hours ago, framed by those curious Attic columns in a Denver grid iron stadium, and writing yesterday afternoon I haven't the foggiest what he said or, perhaps more significantly, how he said it... with the soaring, lyrical cadences of the preacher man; the cerebral guise of the law professor who spoke so brilliantly about race; as a hybrid of the two; or as someone else entirely.

As a mid-life career changer, I can offer some insight into the debate concerning how "easy" GCSEs actually are, in relation to the O-levels I sat a quarter of a century ago. Moving from a career in the City to work with inner-city children, I sought to ensure that my science was up to date by studying for a combined science GCSE.

Amidst Kate Moss's comments for a recent feature in Interview magazine, it's her thoughts on her own thinness that have sparked the most interest. The iconic model, now immortalised once again by Marc Quinn in a gold statue that will appear in the British Museum, talks about the unavailability of food while she was working as a model in the past. She says: "I remember standing up in the bath one day, and there was a mirror in front of me and I was so thin! I hated it. I never liked being...
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Was Lesbia's sparrow really a sparrow? I know it doesn't do to be too highbrow these days, but I am emboldened to pursue the question because The Independent has been The Sparrow's Friend ever since we launched our campaign eight years ago to save the poor mite from its startling decline. The house sparrow, Passer domesticus, has all but vanished from London and other urban centres where formerly it was ubiquitous and to this day no one knows why.

And now for the great news – from Africa. Yes, I know that seems like a perverse opener, with Robert Mugabe perpetuating his oozing Alzheimocracy, a looming famine in Ethiopia, and international peacekeepers failing to prevent genocidal massacres in Darfur. The cynics who jeer that Africa is a black hole for help feel they have the wind of no change at their back. But some time next year – or soon after – a beautiful moment in the history of humanity will come to pass on...
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It is something of an August ritual. The suits and faces from Televisionland migrate to Edinburgh where, infected by the general atmosphere of alternative politics and comic skittishness, they go a little too far during a speech or a question-and-answer session. Newspapers, desperate for copy, whip up a "debate" about what has been said and ring up the usual suspects – a small coterie of rent-a-quote TV veterans. A predictable row breaks out before, like a summer thunder storm, it...
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In 2004, we came so close to victory. We are even closer now, and let me tell you, this time we're going to win. The stakes could not be higher, because we know what a McCain administration would look like: just like the past, just like George Bush. And this country can't afford a third Bush term. Just think: John McCain voted with George Bush 90 per cent of the time. Ninety percent of George Bush is just more than we can take.

Dave Freeman

Bill Gutteridge was an extremely able and versatile academic of considerable experience whose publications covered a variety of themes in the study of international politics.