This case has been awaited for some time.

although it was raining very heavily this morning in Sandanski, which is probably gonna result in a heckuva melt flow in the local river, the forecast was to get cold and heavy snow in the Sofia region.

This proved true just 30 km north where we entered snow territory and the road got a bit...interesting. I have to say that, while I have slagged off Bulgarian organisation before, their snow clearance is determined and aggressive. There was one moment where I though we might have a problem, north of Blagoevgrad, but the police were there in numbers very quickly and sorted it out before the queues got too long.

We didn't go quickly, but we went. And so now I am Sofia. And my hotel is great, unlike the one I've stayed in previously.

Fingers crossed for the flight tomorrow

keep to the Fen Causeway

'tis strange I should be old and neither wise nor valiant. From "The Maid's Tragedy" by Beaumont & Fletcher

'tis strange I should be old and neither wise nor valiant. From "The Maid's Tragedy" by Beaumont & Fletcher

Mapping 10.000 taxi journeys during 24 hours in Manhattan

You can't be me, I'm taken

A senior figure at the Sun  today attacked police who arrested five Sun  journalists, claiming his colleagues had been treated like "members of an organised crime gang".

The journalists were among eight people arrested at the weekend over allegations of improper payments to police and public officials.

Trevor Kavanagh, the newspaper's associate editor, said the police investigation into alleged press malpractice was regarded by many as a "witch-hunt" and suggested that free speech in the United Kingdom was under attack.

In a strongly worded article printed in the tabloid, he argued that those arrested had been released on "draconian" bail terms like those imposed on suspected terrorists.

...Tropical Cyclone Giovanna, ... is bearing down on Madagascar as a powerful Category 4 storm with 145 mph winds. Giovanna is predicted to hit a heavily populated portion of the east coast of the island near 22 GMT tonight as a Category 3 storm, then move inland, passing near the capital of Antananarivo as a Category 1 storm on Tuesday morning.

WASHINGTON--Saying the now critically endangered species of politician is at high risk for complete extinction within the next 10 years, Beltway-area conservationists announced plans Monday for a new captive breeding program designed to save moderate Republicans.

Romney 32% (sinking from his high of 37%)
Santorum 30% (continually rising)
Gingrich 16% (Another Not-Romney bites the dust)
Paul 8%   (Don't laugh, may be a factor in Tampa)

While PPP showing a nation-wide Frothy surge:

Santorum 38%
Romney 23%
Gingrich 17%
Paul 13%

Santorum is now completely dominating with several key segments of the electorate, especially the most right leaning parts of the party. With those describing themselves as 'very conservative,' he's now winning a majority of voters at 53% to 20% for Gingrich and 15% for Romney.  Santorum gets a majority with Tea Party voters as well at 51% to 24% for Gingrich and 12% for Romney. And with Evangelicals he falls just short of a majority with 45% to 21% for Gingrich and 18% for Romney.

PPP analysis confirms what I've been saying for some time now:

The best thing Romney might have going for him right now is Gingrich's continued presence in the race. If Gingrich dropped out 58% of his supporters say they would move to Santorum, while 22% would go to Romney and 17% to Paul. Santorum gets to 50% in the Newt free field to 28% for Romney and 15% for Paul.

but they've been able to put some numbers to it.

The Santorum surge is a direct result of a closed door meeting of over 150 evangelical leaders early last month.  

The move represents an eleventh-hour effort by social conservatives one week out from the crucial South Carolina primary to unify around a single candidate and blunt the momentum of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, whom many evangelicals consider insufficiently conservative.

These leaders represent a significant percentage of GOP primary voters, have established organizations, have people already staffing those organizations, can put "boots on the ground" in the precincts, and have their own money raising networks.  Together these people reflect a serious and substantial percentage of the GOP primary vote.

Possibly reflecting this, Santorum has become the Not-Romney of choice  in Michigan and has a goodly lead:

Santorum 39%
Romney 24%
Paul 12%  
Gingrich 11%

But with 50% of voters still willing to change, it's all soft for Frothy and Romney could buy himself another primary win.

No polling I can find for Arizona (Feb. 28, along with Michigan) or Washington state (Mar. 3.)  

Three Super Tuesday (Mar. 7) states: Vermont, Ohio, and Georgia, have started voting.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

W A R N I N G This contains descriptions of a nature so hilarious it may cause body part failure

Guardian - Stewart Lee - I was getting on so well with Gillian Welch. Then David Cameron butts in

For David Cameron to attend a Gillian Welch show is the equivalent of him standing in front of another modern American great, say Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, and daubing it with his own faeces. "No One Knows My Name", especially, occupied a special room in the house of my heart and now David Cameron has blundered all around that house in his Bullingdon Club blazer, drunk on champagne, with dog muck on his spats, smearing it on everything I hold dear, and telling me to "calm down" while I plead with him to stop.

The first time I personally was confronted with the moral dilemma now known as Welch's Hot Potato was after a performance I directed at the National theatre, when I suddenly found my hand being shaken warmly by Michael Portillo. At first, I assumed it was the Cuprinol wood goblin, but then I realised I had touched a Tory and so I ran to the kitchens and plunged my hand into a pan of boiling water, before cutting it off and throwing it into the Thames. Dead fish floated upwards and the river foamed with much blood. But I have since met the charming Michael, and his painfully shy wife, Diane Abbott, on BBC TV's This Week, where he apologised for my stump and asked me to accompany him to the Greco-Roman wrestling at this year's Olympics. (I also worked with Ann Widdecombe once, who sadly was a lout. But then you should never meet your heroes.)