And you are?

Celebrity endorsements of major causes can range from the sublime to the ridiculous. On the plus side I think it's great when celebrities donate big money to charity, and some can be quite effective at raising awareness or campaigning for attitude change in certain groups for whom they have influence. On the other hand, sometimes there is a good laugh to be had in famous people grossly overestimating their own influence.

Mr President, I think it’s time we brought the troops home. Really, why? It seems we’ve had a special request from Madonna. I mean, millions of people around the world marched against war, but if Madonna says it’s bad...

I was rather bemused the other day to read that Richard Gere has appeared in advertisements urging Palestinians to vote. Apparently the man is “a known supporter of the Palestinian people” and “believes that freedom and liberty are for everyone.” Which is all very well, but I doubt if the Palestinians would know that. I'm guessing that the local Gaza cinema hasn't had a Pretty Woman festival lately.

As it turns out, the ads actually are just confusing to your average Palestinan voter. Some actor I’ve never heard of, an American, is telling me to vote. And I should care? So my favourite quote of the day goes to Gaza soap factory worker Manar al-Najjar:

We don't need the Americans’ intervention. We know who to elect. Not like them - they elected a moron.

Indeed.

I'm sorry, where were we?

OK, so that couple of weeks break from blogging turned into a year and a half. Whoops. Easily distracted I guess.

I decided to restart the blog due to the disturbing realisation that, with so many friends interstate or overseas, this is actually one of the easiest ways to communicate with people. Certainly I'm not always the best at emailing or phoning (let alone writing), but I do regularly check friends' blogs. So I surrender myself to the technology. This being a stunningly unproductive work period (we just spent the morning rearranging all the desks in our section), I finally had time to do something about it.

In the meantime I have just been enjoying a thoroughly self-indulgent summer, in my new bachelorette pad. I certainly have a busier social life living on my own than I did when living with friends - because I actually have to leave the house to talk to someone I like. I've had to greatly increase my weekly drinking and eating out budget, and have to make sure I don't buy too much perishable food, because I'm not there to eat it. That being said, life will probably calm down a little now that we are heading back to work and a slightly greater degree of respectability.

So anyway, a new year, a new home, a new look for the blog. Drop in and see me sometime.