Meanwhile, my favourite Etonian, Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall, has been battling it out on the intensively farmed chicken meat bird front. And doing quite well too, I’ll have you know.

Support him please. It doesn’t take much, just a read of his site and a virtual signature. Animal welfare must come first. If you can’t afford free range chicken, then eat pulses instead–they are a lot cheaper than even the cheapest bird.

Sign up here

Thank you.

So no, you don’t need books to be clever at all. But books can help make us more human.

I know this is old news, but since Sir Ian McKellen has said that it’s looking more and more likely that he will play Gandalf again for The Hobbit, I feel the subject needs to be re-addressed.

Peter Jackson successfully brought Middle Earth alive and into the homes/minds of many people who had never read Tolkien’s trilogy before his film adaptations were screened. Many of these people did not choose reading as a favoured pastime, or indeed never chose it as a pastime at all. Peter took the story and flew. That he loves the trilogy, the whole ethos of Middle Earth, cannot be disputed. That he was able to take this adored tale and make it as brilliantly real as he did is astounding. That New Line Cinema’s greed is keeping this director from finishing the whole series (it was said that there was to be a Lord of the Rings prequel, too) is disgusting.

What can we do except despair? This:

Sign The Jackson/Hobbit Petition

I can’t believe there are so few signatures. COME ON, EVERYONE — SIGN! It won’t take any more than two minutes of your time.

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Quote taken from the live chat box on Ko-htiks’s site a couple of minutes ago: komg: I see all from south okkalapa with my eye.They really killed so many.A student and a man near my home die.i feel so sorry now.I want to kill all.

News reports from the BBC, comments from the Guardian, all suggest that the US and UN will be unable to stop these atrocities from happening. They all point to China and India, saying the onus lies with these two countries flanking tiny Burma. But at the moment China is unmoved, as is Russia — another behemoth of a country all too ready to turn a blind eye. So what, if anything, can the EU and the US do?

It’s simple, force China’s hand.

We must do this. Someone has to make a stand to help these people. America, Britain, Europe, I implore you — your sanctions don’t mean a thing here, but your lack of presence will. Do the only thing that will make China sit up and listen: Pull out of the Olympic Games. Pull out now.

If democracy really DOES mean anything to you (yes, President Bush, I’m speaking to you) then you will pull out, and do it now.

Meanwhile, what can we do as individuals? Email the regime is one, search around the web for sites that petition world leaders to act against the Burmese junta. Have a look around HERE for information and to make a difference. You can email the asking for the release of the countries true leader: Aung San Suu Kyi.

Don’t fill up at Total petrol/gas stations. Yep, Total is one of the largest investors in the Burmese military junta. The regime have used money gained by Total investments to buy military hardware, including fighter planes. Drive right on by and get your car fuel elsewhere. It’s not that hard.

Don’t sit back and watch these people die. Find out what you can do, then do it. Please.

A couple of weeks ago I was out and about at a hot-air balloon festival where there were people selling small, helium filled balloons for charity. There was to be a mass release of hundreds, each balloon bearing a ticket with the name of the person who bought said favour. The first to be found and reported to the charity would be the winner of this strange ‘race’. Except that many people don’t realise that most of these good cause balloons end up as rubbish on land or, more distressingly, at sea where some types of marine wildlife mistake them for food. They get eaten, they get stuck, and the animal starves to death.

Anyway, the balloon race charity man steps into my path and rattles a collection box at me. “Buy a balloon for the balloon race?”

I shake my head and smile politely. Then, as he shakes the box again I say, “Okay, I will give you some money, but won’t buy a balloon because of what they do to marine wildlife. You d0 know what I mean, don’t you?” He nods and looks guilty as I deposit some coins into his box.

He nods and looks guilty.

This man knows, and yet he is still promoting this bit of ‘fun’ that kills creatures of the sea slowly and painfully. Again, humanity places itself over all other Earthly species in order of importance.

I walk away shaking my head. What can one do with people like that? These people know yet they ignore. The same type who will in all probability read the first few lines of this blog post then move on to something a little less conscience-biting.

Please, dear readers, support marine wildlife by refusing to buy balloons for these ‘races’. Support the human charity promoting the race by donating at the same time. Explain why you’re doing what you’re doing. It doesn’t take much. Really.

This woman pioneered fair-trade, human rights, beauty without cruelty… All this and still she made a fortune. She worked for feminism by getting her hands dirty, by challenging the male-dominated world of business with her fair-minded ethics and humanitarian integrity. She was the best role-model a girl could have when I was younger.

I mourn her loss, yet celebrate her achievements. There’s a new and very bright star in the skies tonight.