"WRITING a book is nothing like writing a song," muses Billy Bragg towards the end of this release, timed to coincide with the release of two box sets of his music. "Writing a book is like painting in oils on a 12-by-20-foot canvas."

Representatives of Hamas and Fatah movements met on Sunday evening in order to finalize the details of the upcoming National Unity Government. The meeting was held at the presidential headquarters in Gaza.

It really was a remarkable election. Although only 40% of eligible voters cast their ballots, the Democrats really did win a sweeping victory, gaining over 30 seats in the House and recapturing the Senate, when few professional analysts gave them any chance to do so as late as Labor Day.

Few people realize that washing our cars in our driveways is one of the most environmentally un-friendly chores we can do around the house. Unlike household waste water that enters sewers or septic systems and undergoes treatment before it is discharged into the environment, what runs off from your car goes right into storm drains.

The tide is slowly turning in America. —Things that seemed completely immutable just days before the Nov. 7 (2006) elections are no more so, as more and more people open their eyes to the grim reality.

To be sure, Marx or Engels never used the word globalisation that is a recent invention. Yet, despite the argument of many globalisation theorists that the world has now entered a new economic era, most commentators agree that many of the processes being analysed today go back to the old international economy.

One of the inevitable aftermaths of an event as important as the Democratic party's capturing a majority in both the House and Senate as a result of the mid-term elections on November 7th is the plethora of "talking heads" appearing on television to discuss what it all means.