Autumn in London, esp with Halloween coming(albeit nearly three weeks to go) is always a rather strange time, esp for a believing Christian(denomination irrelevant). Some evangelicals and Eastern Orthodox think that the whole business of Halloween is or amounts to a glorification of the powers of Darkness, noting the dressing up(esp by kids) as ghosts, ghoulies, werewolves and vampires and the fact that Halloween( All Hallows Eve, the day before All Saints Day) is based on the old Celtic feast of Samhain, when the dividing line between fantasy and reality, life and death , is said to be at its thinnest, but in reality as the real god of Halloween is not so much Lucifer but lucre, Mammon and not Mephistopheles,(like any Christmas, Easter or St.Patrick's Day, it's a money spinner!) most mainstream churches(including my own Roman Catholic) turn a blind eye to it.

Now that "Cap'n Hook/hate preacher" Abu Hamza and his four cohorts have finally lost their campaign against extradition to the US in London's High Court, it is worth pointing out that extradition by definition is a complicated process( anybody remember the regular blow ups between London and Dublin over applications for extradition to the Province or UK "mainland" for Irish men and women accused of terrorist offences during the "Troubles"?).

And in conclusion, although it would might be argued that as a non-US citizen, it would be bad manners for me to comment on the recent Presidential debates between incumbent Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney, I can only express bemusement as to the latter's threat to "fire Big Bird"( a popular character on Sesame Street)- Mitt, WHAT did Big Bird ever do to you???

Terry