Obviously I need to step carefully with this post given that the parents of Madeline McCann find plenty of time in their search of their missing daughter to sue the pants off of anyone that can help fund their mortgage repayments, but I'm surprised at myself for not having yet made a posting about this couple. The reason for the posting is news that a set of papers are giving the McCann's over £500,000 in a libel settlement and apologising to them for what they've reported.

Now I would usually be the first to say that firstly the tabloids deserve all that they get on this sort of issue and that secondly it serves them right for being speculative rumour mills rather than reporters of the news. However, I have to wonder what exactly it is they are apologising for?

How would you feel if someone was able to look at every web page you were viewing? How would you feel if they were able to store a record of what you viewed so that they can analyse it? How would you feel if they then used that data to target advertising at you? How would you feel if all of this was done without your consent, without your knowledge, and without your consultation?

Well if you're a BT Broadband customer then welcome to the new age, where your browsing habits are sold off to the highest bidder, in this case a company called "Phorm", in one of the biggest scandals of the year that you almost didn't hear about. For those of you on Virgin and TalkTalk don't think you're safe as you're next, and assuming that Phorm get their way then other major ISPs such as Orange and Tiscali will be following suit in the near future.

Politalks 4 is now up! This week we look at terrorism and how torture fits in with that particular problem, in particular George Bush's views on waterboarding. There is also a look at interesting ideas such as soldiers becoming teachers and frankly bizarre educational policy. The big stuff is at the end though, where we let those of you out of the loop know who the sexiest MP of them all is, afraid we have no news on what they'll be wearing to the ball. Video below, transcript even further down, right at the bottom we even have a roundup of the links we took in to consideration when making this

Not work safe unless you have headphones, enjoy!

Steven Spielberg pulling out of his previous role with China for the upcoming Olympics this year has sparked a massive rise in the debate over whether we should be acknowledging the 2008 Olympics at all. China have of course defended their seemingly abhorrent record on humanitarian issues by deflecting the issue of their involvement in funding a tyrannical government in the Sudan by stating that it really isn't their fault it's happening.

But really, China's record from our ethical perspective is certainly not great, and their funding of various nations with arms and giving them some level of financial security is not in line with what we in the West would say is the correct thing to do, but is this enough to pull a boycott on the event?

Probably not safe for work, here is our third effort. As always we welcome comments on the style and content in an effort to improve! Transcript below...

Finally in this trilogy of posts on the issue of poor and sometimes frightening governance by Labour, and in this case to a degree parliament as a governing body, I cover the now well trodden subject of MPs and just how much power the government should be giving them. In particular this post is spurred on by the recent news about bugging MPs, but stems from the wording of anti-terror legislation on several counts, the debacle over police pay and partly how the idea of electoral reform has been dealt with.

Let's first look at the most recent furore, that of bugging MPs...