divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/66702?ns=guardianpageName=Politics%3A+Darling+ready+to+admit+taxes+must+risech=Politicsc3=The+Guardianc4=Economic+policy%2CAlistair+Darling%2CPoliticsc5=Credit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Allegra+Strattonc7=2008_11_22c8=1122290c9=articlec10=GUc11=Politicsc12=Economic+policyc13=c14=h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FEconomic+policy" width="1" height="1" //divpThe chancellor, Alistair Darling, is preparing to admit that tax will need to rise after the next election as borrowing projections emerged showing the public finances in a worse state than previous estimates had shown. Darling will say that "adjustments" will have to be made, though it is unclear whether these will be slated for 2010 or 2011. /ppYesterday the Treasury refused to deny reports that its officials were putting borrowing in the region of pound;120bn - much more than the pound;90bn many thought Darling would announce in his pre budget report on Monday. /ppTreasury officials are reported to have described the effect the pound;120bn would have on the economy as a "mammoth shock" as tax revenues continue to plummet and the costs of increased unemployment are borne by the state. /ppOn Monday, Darling will have to show the government has a strategy for controlling annual borrowing to soothe international markets and remove conditions that might otherwise see the Bank of England feel the need to raise interest rates. /ppLast night it emerged that the chancellor was preparing to admit the government would raise taxes in order to bring the public finances under control. It is still thought the government will announce the heavily trailed fiscal stimulus package of tax cuts and increased public spending./ppThe admission by the chancellor on Monday may also serve to claim for the government some of the intellectual territory the Conservative leader staked this week when he ended a year-old commitment to match Labour party's spending plans for the year 2010-2011. Explaining his position on Tuesday, David Cameron said he believed the British people would be suspicious of tax cuts and public spending programmes without obvious funding./ppIt is not clear what form the tax rises might take but a Treasury aide described as "rubbish" a suggestion that VAT might rise from 17.5% to 22.5%./ppThis week the prime minister's efforts in tackling the economic downturn were reflected in improved polling figures, leading to speculation that No 10 was gearing up to call an election./ppSpeaking on Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 programme yesterday, Gordon Brown refused to be drawn on his improved standing and batted away talk of a election, saying that all speculation could be "discounted"./ppDowning Street has been quick to nip the rumour in the bud, with ministerial special advisers briefed this week by senior No 10 aides that an election was not "remotely on our minds". /ppThey are keen to prevent a rerun of last summer which saw Brown's political standing damaged by his decision not to call an election after weeks of speculation./ppPressure was piled on the Treasury team drawing up Monday's plan by confirmation yesterday of poor October public sector net borrowing figures. Public sector net borrowing increased in the last month by pound;1.4bn. Borrowing was pound;3.1bn higher this year than in October 2007./ppThe figure for public sector net debt rose to pound;640.9bn or 42.9% of GDP largely down to the government's takeover of Bradford Bingley at the end of September. Net borrowing has reached pound;37bn already - nearly as much as the pound;43bn forecast by the Treasury for the whole of the year. Government spending was higher than in the same month a year ago./ppThe prime minister and chancellor have said in the last few weeks that they favour a fiscal stimulus package to help galvanise the British economy. If as expected it is announced on Monday, this could increase public sector net borrowing by pound;15bn-pound;30bn./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy"Economic policy/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/alistairdarling"Alistair Darling/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Politicscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660288112201400459684"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Politicscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660288112201400459684" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/37918?ns=guardianpageName=Sport%3A+South+Africa+got+lucky+in+final%2C+says+Vickerych=Sportc3=The+Guardianc4=Autumn+internationals%2CEngland+rugby+union+team%2CSouth+Africa+rugby+team%2CRugby+union%2CSportc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CRugby+Unionc6=Robert+Kitsonc7=2008_11_22c8=1122154c9=articlec10=GUc11=Sportc12=Autumn+internationalsc13=c14=h2=GU%2FSport%2FAutumn+internationals" width="1" height="1" //divpa href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/englandrugbyunionteam"England's/a two surviving forwards from last year's World Cup final defeat by a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/southafricarugbyteam"South Africa/a are both promising to redress the balance when the countries meet again at Twickenham this afternoon. To say Phil Vickery and Nick Easter are keen to atone for England's 15-6 defeat in Paris would be a massive understatement, with Vickery still insistent that the Springboks were somewhat fortunate to walk away with the Webb Ellis Cup./ppIt is Vickery's enduring belief that England might have upset their opponents on the night had they not been forced to battle so hard en route to the final after their heavy early pool loss to the Boks. "I think it could have been won but we'd probably played too many 'finals' already," said Vickery, looking forward with visible enthusiasm to today's Investec Challenge Series match. "It was similar to what happened in 2003 ... we'd probably have lost our next game if we'd had to play again after that final in Sydney./pp"In fairness to South Africa they stuck to their game plan and, at times, produced some pretty good rugby. But we just made too many mistakes." Vickery, who also reveals in today's Twickenham match programme that he enjoyed the 2007 World Cup experience more than the 2003 tournament, had already secured a winners' medal four years earlier but his team-mate Easter acknowledged yesterday his own frustration had yet to fade. "There is a sense of regret. As Rob Andrew told us afterwards, you never get over it. We've now got a chance to play the world champions in our backyard and put one over on them. They only really come over for one game and it's us."/ppThe World Cup head coach, Brian Ashton, may have gone but his successor, Martin Johnson, has made a point of sitting his team down this week to watch clips from the final which underline the importance of discipline. "We highlighted a few areas from that game," said Johnson, "and one of them was penalties. A few indisciplined penalties early in that game really cost that England team. They gave South Africa nine points which proved to be the difference in the end."/ppAside from Vickery and Easter, the only other member of the England XV from the 2007 final in today's starting line-up is the winger Paul Sackey, one of eight Wasps on the team-sheet with another colleague - Simon Shaw - among the replacements. If Shaw comes on, he will win his 50th cap and ensure the domestic champions equal Leicester's all-time record of nine players from one club winning England caps on the same day. /ppIn particular, Johnson is challenging Danny Cipriani to prove he can run a Test match and put last week's 28-14 defeat by Australia behind him. "He's 21 years old and he has to deal with these situations. It's the first time he's been in a series of this intensity, with people speculating about him. People want instant superstars and results, and there's a massive expectation on him."/ppCipriani, who has raised eyebrows by continuing to seek goalkicking tuition at squad sessions from England's erstwhile kicking guru Dave Alred rather than the official kicking coach, Jon Callard, will need to be on-song with the boot in what should be a tight, heavy-duty encounter. /ppBarring a big win for Argentina over Ireland, victory would assure England of a top-four place in the IRB world rankings and preferential seeding at next month's World Cup pool draw. South Africa's outstanding locks, not to mention their powerful loose-forward trio, will have other ideas, but England are the fresher side and do not lack for motivation./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/autumn-internationals"Autumn internationals/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/englandrugbyunionteam"England rugby union team/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/southafricarugbyteam"South Africa rugby team/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion"Rugby union/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660364112201400459684"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660364112201400459684" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

Two long-awaited mini-series come to an end! Can you stand the suspense from not knowing what they are? If not, read on!

Air #4 by G. Willow Wilson (writer), M. K. Perker (artist), Chris Chuckry (colorist), and Jared K. Fletcher (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Air is still keeping me interested without really dazzling me, but it’s getting to the point where I may have to drop it. Usually I give books six issues to grab hold, and although I admire a lot about Air, there’s a lot that’s not working too. Blythe’s conversation with the masked priest who she thinks is Zayn works well, because we get some good insight into her character and what’s going on in the book. The transition to Mexico City and the new players in the game is awkwardly handled, though, and as the conspiracy grows quickly, it ironically becomes less interesting. I’m not sure if it’s a case of too much, too soon, because we’ve come very far from the weird premise of the first issue, but I also understand that doling out information in a work of serialized fiction is a delicate balance - too little and people lose interest; too much and it become overload. Air is veering toward overload, and it does seem like Wilson needs to slow down just a bit. There’s hardly enough time to process what’s going on, when suddenly we’re shifting continents and plot points and then, just as suddenly, there’s a weird flying machine on the last page. As much as the premise is intriguing, it feels like Wilson is desperate to cram too much plot into each issue.

Perker’s art has some problems, too. His figure drawing is fine, but too often he skimps on the backgrounds, giving the book a strange “nowhere” look. The text says we’re in Mexico City, but nothing about it feels like Mexico City (of course, I haven’t been to Mexico City, but there’s no sense of any place about the pages in Mexico) Perker certainly can do better - Cairo had a real sense of the city and the mysterious tunnels and passages under it - but perhaps the rush of a monthly book is not a good fit for him. Part of the weirdness of the book is that it takes place in “no place” - on bland airplanes - but that sense of unreality that comes from being on a plane shouldn’t extend to actual locations. It’s frustrating, because the first few pages, when Blythe is hallucinating about the winged serpent, work well and feature outdoor scenes that have a strong sense of place.

This is one of those comics that I really want to like. Four issues in, there’s a lot to enjoy about it. But I still have to think about dropping it, and we’ll see where the next two issues go.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#2 and #3, September and October): 8,777 (#2; rank: 194) and 10,061 (#3; rank: 195). That’s weird. A fairly big jump in orders from one issue to the next.

Ambush Bug: Year None #4 (of 6) by Keith Giffen (plotter/penciller), Robert Loren Fleming (scripter), Al Milgrom (inker), Tom Smith (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 23 pgs, FC, DC.

As usual with this comic, there’s nothing really here except tons of gags that are really funny if you know a little about DC comics (and your enjoyment of them increases the more you know) and are perhaps mildly amusing if you don’t know anything about DC. In this issue, Giffen rips Dan DiDio mercilessly, which is hilarious but sad when you realize how spot-on it is and how DiDio apparently doesn’t care. And I find it the height of irony that facing the page on which Ambush Bug says, “I guess I’m going to have to get used to a kindler, gentler DC Universe,” we get this ad:

Giffen obviously sees the idiocy of DC - why doesn’t DiDio?

Again, this is very funny if you’ve read DC, but probably less so if you haven’t. I like it, but it makes me sad, too.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#2 and #3, August and September): 14,627 (#2; rank: 135) and 13,477 (#3; rank: 150). As I’ve written before, this seems pretty good for an obscure character with no big names on the book. The Giffen factor?

Atomic Robo: Dogs of War #4 (of 5) by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Ronda Pattison (colorist), and Jeff Powell (letterer). Back-up story by Joshua and Jonathan Ross (story/artists), Brian Clevinger (scripter), and Jeff Powell (letterer). $2.95, 27 pgs (22 for the main story, 5 for the back-up), FC, Red 5 Comics.

Atomic Robo sails merrily along, with the penultimate issue revealing some things (like who’s behind the big Nazi scheme) and, of course, featuring plenty of fighting. There’s not much I can say about it, because it’s just pure, unadulterated, comics joy. Clevinger continues to write wise cracks that flow easily from the action, Wegener continues to draw wonderfully, and it’s all hurtling toward a big-time conclusion. People who complain about all comics being gloomy are obviously not reading Atomic Robo. Maybe they should.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#2 and #3, September and October): 4,925 (#2; rank: 246) and 4,906 (#3; rank: 284). I guess that’s fine - it’s holding steady.

Bad Planet #6 (of 6) by Thomas Jane (writer), Steve Niles (writer), James Daly III (penciller), Tim Bradstreet (inker), Grant Goleash (colorist), and Jason Hanley (letterer). $2.99, 24 pgs, FC, Image/Raw Studios.

Shockingly enough, the final issue of Bad Planet showed up in stores on Wednesday. Bad Planet, you’ll recall, was supposed to be a 12-issue series, but it’s been truncated to six, although the ending leaves the possibility of a sequel wide open. It’s a shame this was so delayed, because it’s a fun, goofy comic full of 1950s-science fiction wackiness, from the deathspiders that have greatly reduced the Earth’s population to the solution to humanity’s problem, which goes back to Nikola Tesla (doesn’t it always?). Daly does a fine job with the art, and although the story makes little sense on a macro level and I can forgive that, the fact that we cut away from important events (like Veronica’s flight to Washington) is weird and halts the momentum of the book. At his blog, Tim Bradstreet explains some of the reasons for the hiatus, and now that it’s “done,” maybe people will discover this book in trade. I can’t really say it’s a great comic, but the creators go hell-for-leather magnificently to bring us this wild tale, and that’s something we should all respect.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#4 and #5, November 2007 and April): 4,575 (#4; rank: 252) and 4,467 (#5; rank: 259). The delay hasn’t hurt this comic, as it has one below!

City of Dust #2 (of 5) by Steve Niles (writer), Zid (artist), Garrie Gastonny (artist), Brandon Chng (artist), Buddy Jiang (colorist), Leos Ng (colorist), Sixth Creation (colorist), and Chris Eliopoulos (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Radical Comics.

Radical was nice enough to send me this in the mail, so I get to read two Steve Niles books this week! Whoo-hoo!

I mentioned that the first issue of this had a couple of problems: it was too derivative, and the art was too murky. The art is a bit brighter in this issue, and just that small change makes this a better issue to read. The art (split between a few different people, although the styles are all similar) isn’t great, but the brighter tones of the book help the storytelling, at least. So there’s that.

Niles continues to tell a story of a dystopian future where imagination is a crime, and with the set-up out of the way, he can concentrate on what made the first issue interesting: the actual murder of some guy and the book that Philip Khrome found under the body. Khrome is, of course, under suspicion by the thought police (GBI, they’re called in the book) because he looked at the book, and he’s interrogated by the head dude, Agent Morgan. Niles does two interesting things with this comic: Khrome continues to be a “the system is right” kind of guy, which is far more interesting than someone who rebels instantly because he’s persecuted by said system. I still see a spiritual awakening for Khrome down the line, where he realizes that he’s been wrong all these years and people just need to read, damn it! Maybe that will happen, maybe it won’t. For now, it’s interesting to see Khrome trying to solve the crime without worrying about bringing down the system. The other thing Niles does is set up Morgan as Khrome’s nemesis and then subvert our expectations. It’s nicely done, and lets us know that things are not what they seem. Plus, Niles reveals the bad guys, and although they’re nothing special, it’s interesting how he ties them into the main theme of the comic.

This issue fleshes out the character of Khrome a bit more, gets us into the crime a bit more, and isn’t difficult to read because the art is too dark. Niles, who seems to have problems with endings, doesn’t have any problems with beginnings, and he’s set up an interesting murder mystery. There’s nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned murder mystery!

Sales figures for issue #1 (October): 8,981 (rank: 209). I have to think that’s pretty good.

Dynamo 5 #18 by Jay Faerber (writer), Mahmud A. Asrar (artist), Marcio Takara (artist), Ron Riley (colorist), and Charles Pritchett (letterer). Back-up story by Jay Faerber (writer), Joe Eisma (artist), Paul Little (colorist), and Charles Pritchett (letterer). $3.50, 27 pgs (20 for the main story, 6 for the back-up), FC, Image.

Over in Jay Faerber’s neck of the woods, Dynamo 5 gets a guest artist (Asrar draws only three pages) and a back-up story, but keeps trucking along. Scrap’s replacement team gets into a fight with a group of super-villains and doesn’t fare very well (as you can see from the cover). As usual, it’s simple kick-ass superheroing and supervillaining, but Faerber is able to do that so well that it feels fresh. Even the twist at the end, which comes from Superhero 101 class, hits us like a punch in the gut. It’s very hard to describe how good Faerber’s two ongoings for Image are (although Noble Causes is ending, it’s still around for now), because not every issue stands out as truly superb. There are stellar moments, but even those don’t show up all the time. If I wrote about the plot - supervillains collects other supervillains who match up well against the new Dynamo 5, said supervillains attack, said supervillains beat up Dynamo 5, something surprising happens at the end - you might think, “That’s the scenario of every superhero comic I’ve ever read!” Well, true, but as always, it’s in the execution. Faerber adds so many small touches that make this fun to read, like Timothy Lipinski going all gooey when he gets his people-killing armor back. Okay, that’s not really fun, but it’s something a slightly psychotic super-villain would do.

I’m not sure what’s up with the back-up story. It’s the tale of a private investigator who sets someone up, and it’s a clever little story, but I don’t know if Faerber is going to start a new series with the P. I. (who, interestingly enough, isn’t named, although the title of the story is “Dodge’s Bullets,” indicating that Dodge is either his first or last name). Either way, it’s a fun short story.

As Brian noted, prices for regular Marvel books (”regular” meaning 22 pages of story with no “extra” material) are going up to $3.99. Faerber himself stopped by to explain why Dynamo 5 is $3.50. Considering it’s as good, if not better, than any other superhero comic you can buy, isn’t it time you stopped hoping that Marvel will come to its senses with regard to pricing and checked this out instead?

Sales figures for the last two issues (#16 and #17, September and October): 5,014 (#16; rank: 241) and 4,792 (#17; rank: 287). I guess that’s fine - the drop is odd, but not huge.

Ex Machina #39 by Brian K. Vaughan (writer), Tony Harris (penciller), Jim Clark (inker), JD Mettler (colorist), and Jared K. Fletcher (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/WildStorm.

The frustrating thing about Ex Machina is that Vaughan is ending it with issue #50, but now we’re going to have to wait two years for that to arrive. I look forward to every issue, even weaker ones like this one, and now that Vaughan has hinted about where the book is going (he may have done this in interviews prior to this, but I don’t read interviews, so this is the first time within the comic he’s hinted about the book’s direction), I’m really looking forward to the end. But I have to wait so damned long!!!!!

As I wrote above, this is a weaker issue, mainly because Monica is such a dull “villain” to the point where she’s not one at all, really. Vaughan’s biggest weakness with this book is feeling that he has to put costumed weirdos in it, even if the book doesn’t necessarily warrant it, and building story arcs around them. Monica’s story could have been told in two issues, tops, but it was stretched out a bit, and that weakened it. Still, Kremlin’s a-doings and the way Vaughan turns the book toward the future help mitigate that a bit. I’m fascinated to see the rest of the series.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#37 and #38, June and September): 14,921 (#37; rank: 131) and 14,973 (#38; rank: 137). Holding virtually steady. Those who buy it are invested, man!

Ghost Rider #29 by Jason Aaron (writer), Tan Eng Huat (artist), José Villarrubia (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I said I wasn’t going to buy this anymore because last issue was $3.99 with a lousy recap of Danny Ketch’s career as Ghost Rider as the “extra” material. Well, I calmed down and decided to buy this, because I have been enjoying Aaron’s run on the title. Unfortunately, I might drop it anyway.

It’s not that this is bad. Aaron is writing a slam-bang action comic, and Huat’s art continues to look better than it has in the past. But it’s not as flat-out insane as Aaron’s first arc, when we had killer nurses and haunted highways and cannibals. It’s a fairly standard superhero comic, and although Aaron does it well, it doesn’t give me any reason to keep coming back. I suppose if I was more invested in the Ghost Rider mythos, it would be more powerful, but I’m not, so the actual story and writing have to be dazzling, and for the past few issues, they haven’t been. It’s certainly keen to see Danny and Johnny throw down, but beyond that, I don’t get the same sense of danger that I get, for instance, with Dynamo 5 and its big fight. It’s just two really powerful dudes smashing each other, and that’s tough to make interesting.

The end of the issue promises “more Ghost Riders,” as we learned last issue that there are several wandering the Earth. It will come out in December, which means the following month I usually think about culling titles. I doubt if this will make the cut. I miss the craziness of the first arc, which was truly and wildly awesome. Oh well.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#27 and 28, September and October): 23,402 (#27; rank: 105) and 26,993 (#28; rank: 102). A slight boost with the 4-dollar issue that I ranted about. I guess I suck.

Moon Knight #24 by Mike Benson (writer), Mark Texeira (artist), Javier Saltares (layouts), Dan Brown (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I like how the past two issues have featured Bullseye on the cover, even though the first time Bullseye shows up in this arc is on the last page of this issue. I guess he’s just so freakin’ cool that Suydam had to put him on two consecutive covers!

This isn’t quite as excellent an issue as the last few, but it’s still very good. When last we left our favorite crazy superhero, Venom was about to eat his brain. Of course, he doesn’t, because that would be awkward, but there’s a big fight between MK and the Thunderbolts, and what makes it interesting is that Moon Knight doesn’t really win. It’s his book, after all, so the usual thing to do is make him superhuman and have him mop the floor with his adversaries, which is what writers of, say, the Caped Crusader always do. He does a fine job beating up on the Thunderbolts, but it’s not like he’s whipping them. He’s even in a bit of trouble until S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up. Isn’t that always the way?

As this is the penultimate issue of the arc, we get some set-up for the final issue. Jean-Paul still wants revenge, and Marc actually has to act human a little bit. Frenchie tells a story about his mercenary days, which helps illuminate, once again, a major theme of this book - the consequences of violence and how no one escapes. Marvel has spoiled the end of this arc in the solicitations, which annoys the hell out of me, but it’s still a bittersweet issue, as Marc knows he probably can’t get out of this. We’ll see exactly how this ends.

I guess Bullseye actually shows up next issue and does some ass-kicking. That’ll be nice.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#22 and #23, September and October): 26,380 (#22; rank: 94) and 25,216 (#23; rank: 111). Holding relatively steady, which makes me happy.

Pax Romana #4 (of 4) by Jonathan Hickman (writer/artist). $3.50, 28 pgs, FC, Image.

Pax Romana finally concludes, and it’s not quite as strong as Hickman’s first series, The Nightly News. Despite that book’s inevitably lackluster ending, it was ridiculously bold and a breath of fresh air both story-wise and art-wise. Pax Romana looks great, with that odd Hickman style that is gorgeous to look at, and the story is still compelling, but Hickman never quite pulls it off. It’s always been a 4-issue mini-series, but perhaps it could have used an extra issue, because the characters never quite gel and in order to get his philosophical ramblings into the book (don’t get me wrong - I like the philosophical ramblings), Hickman seems to have sacrificed some characterization and action. Like The Nightly News, Hickman has grand themes on his mind in this book, and one of the characters vocalizes them late in the comic. Overall, the idea of the book - sending people back in time to make sure the world doesn’t fall into barbarism - is fascinating, and although Hickman gets his major point about the nature of people across, he doesn’t manage it with the same flair that he brought to The Nightly News. Ironically, the end of this book probably works better than that earlier one, but the journey isn’t as strong.

Still, Hickman continues to be an impressive voice in comics, both with his astonshing artwork and in the themes he examines in his work. I hope he does more work, and I hope he speeds up a bit. Waiting for his comics is frustrating, to say the least.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#2 and #3, March and September): 4,794 (#2; rank: 239) and 2,889 (#3; rank: 300). Who says delays in books don’t hurt sales?

Scalped #23 by Jason Aaron (writer), R. M. Guéra (artist), Giulia Brusco (colorist), and Steve Wands (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Aaron focuses on Dino Poor Bear in this issue, as he rides around the reservation doing his “job,” which consists of giving drugs and guns to various people and collecting their money. It’s a typical issue of Scalped, in that Aaron captures the essence of dirt-poor living and things build slowly to two incidents of horrific violence that leave their mark on Dino. As we’ve seen, Dino will never leave the rez, but he still clings to the notion that he will, which makes his life, as sad as it is, a bit more pathetic. He’s not working toward anything, and he has a (relatively) clear head on his shoulders - think of the people who don’t have clear heads! Aaron has done a fine job showing the absolute despair the people on the rez live with each day, and by now, he doesn’t even make much of an effort - just by showing Dino go about his daily life is enough. Maybe, just maybe, Dino realizes in this issue that he has to change. But I doubt it.

I have read on-line that Scalped is a lousy representation of Native Americans. I don’t know if it is or not - I have not met many Indians, so I can’t speak to that. I do know that the reservations in Phoenix aren’t much better than the fictional one in this comic, so he’s onto something there. But that’s a topic for another day. I won’t say much about that, but I will say that whether or not Aaron is accurately portraying a Native American experience, he is accurately portraying a poor experience. The people in this comic are desperate, and they act desperately. They often act stupidly, but Aaron has done a nice job showing why they act this way. That’s part of why this book is so gripping.

Sales figures for the last two issues (#21 and #22, September and October): 7,029 (#21; rank: 216) and 6,964 (#22; rank: 241). This is why I switched to the single issues. Anything to do my part!

Uncanny X-Men #504 by Matt Fraction (writer), Terry Dodson (penciler), Rachel Dodson (inker), Justin Ponsor (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I appreciate Terry Dodson’s drawing style with regard to women, because he makes them a bit more zaftig than your usual comic artist, but what’s up with Emma’s waist on that cover? I know the fur is hiding some of it, but it looks hideously thin compared to her bust. Weird.

Anyway, this is much more like what I was hoping for when Fraction came on board the X-Men express. Brubaker isn’t even credited in this issue, so perhaps he’s completely off the book? Either way, Fraction isn’t quite back to form totally, but this is much better than the previous arc. Does Dodson make that much of a difference? Maybe.

Fraction almost completely ditches the annoying identifying(...)

Manager Joe Kinnear tells the BBC's Football Focus "the door is always open" for Alan Shearer to work at Newcastle.

br /What it doesbr /br /A tool with a self-explanatory name, TweetStalk will enable you to follow anybody on Twitter without the other person knowing about it. Or to put it in even clearer words, stalking instead of following. br brAll it takes to do so is installing the Firefox add-on that is available from the site and then go to any Twitter account that you desire to stalk. Once there, all you have to is click on the “Stalk” button that is featured and under cover of darkness you go. br brThe uses of such an application are left to each user, and every person will employ it as he or she sees fit. On first looks, anybody would think it has only negative connotations but I feel a tool like this can also be used with good purposes, such as monitoring the online activity of a child who is keen on micro-blogging without stepping in the middle. In the meantime, you can put into practice yourself by following the link that is provided below. brbr /br /In their own wordsbr /br /“Sometimes you want to follow someone on Twitter, but you don't want them to know you're following them. We present to you TweetStalk, the simple way to stalk Twitter users without having to follow them.”br /br /Why it might be a killerbr /br /Twitter has such a huge fan base that any new product has a ready audience waiting for it.br /br /Some questionsbr /br /Which features should be added to this application in order to make it more flexible?br /br /Link: a href='http://www.tweetstalk.com'http://www.tweetstalk.com/abr /Our Review: a href='http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/tweetstalk-com-stalk-twitter-users'http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/tweetstalk-com-stalk-twitter-users/abr /br / nbsp;div class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=qzKmpuwG"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=vS7vXb3v"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?d=52" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=nKzMKCut"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?i=nKzMKCut" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=X4Q8pwrJ"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?i=X4Q8pwrJ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=k6UhDWfc"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?d=43" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?a=l1vd5qyW"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/killerstartups/BkQV?i=l1vd5qyW" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/killerstartups/BkQV/~4/mGChCnrnjFQ" height="1" width="1"/

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/32024?ns=guardianpageName=Society%3A+Baby+P+review+to+be+seen+by+opposition+MPsch=Societyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Baby+P%2CChild+protection+%28Society%29%2CUK+news%2CEd+Balls%2CChildren+%28Society%29%2CChildren%27s+ministry%2CPolitics%2CEducation%2CSocietyc5=Society+Weekly%2CUnclassified%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education%2CChildren+Societyc6=Matthew+Weaverc7=2008_11_21c8=1122064c9=articlec10=GUc11=Societyc12=Baby+Pc13=c14=h2=GU%2FSociety%2FBaby+P" width="1" height="1" //divpThe government has agreed to release a detailed review into the a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/baby-p"Baby P/a case to opposition MPs, a day after claiming it had been told to keep the document confidential./ppThe children's secretary, Ed Balls, a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/nov/20/baby-p-childrensministry"told the Commons yesterday/a that lawyers had advised him not to make the full serious case review available./ppHe cited a 2006 ruling by the Information Commissioner in a separate case and voiced concerns that identifying the professionals involved in the case could jeopardise future investigations./ppBut today Ball's department said five MPs would be allowed to study the full report./ppBaby P died in Haringey, north London, in August last year after suffering more than 50 injuries at the hands of his abusive mother, her boyfriend and a lodger - despite repeated visits by the authorities./ppA 15-page summary of the serious case review was published at the end of an Old Bailey trial last week./ppNow the full report will be made available to the Conservative and Liberal-Democrat children's spokesmen, Michael Gove and David Laws, the Children, Schools and Families select committee chairman, Barry Sheerman, and local MPs Lynne Featherstone and David Lammy./ppThe MPs will be allowed to read the document on "privy council terms", meaning they must keep its contents secret./ppThe case was the subject of angry exchanges between David Cameron and Gordon Brown at prime minister questions last week. Since then the government has been keen to establish cross-party consensus on how to tackle the failings highlighted by the tragedy./ppA spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "As Ed Balls said in the House of Commons yesterday and in his letter to the opposition children, schools and families spokesmen, he has been keen to find a way to enable them to study the serious case review report but remaining consistent with the principle that these documents remain unpublished and confidential./pp"In order to ensure that future serious case reviews are not undermined and achieve their purpose, it remains vital to keep the serious case review confidential."/ppThe shadow children's secretary, Michael Gove, welcomed the move./pp"It's important that bureaucracy doesn't get in the way of proper scrutiny," he said./ppThe three people convicted of involvement in the killing of Baby P are facing "substantial" terms in prison, a judge has warned.br /Baby's P's mother, 27, her boyfriend, 32, and their lodger, Jason Owen, 36, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 15 for causing or allowing his death./ppYesterday there was confusion among officials about the bearing the Data Protection Act had on releasing the report./ppThe House of Commons was told the information commissioner had ruled that the full report could not be released to opposition MPs because of the risk of identifying professionals involved./ppBut the Information Commissioner's Office said later that it had not been consulted over the case./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/baby-p"Baby P/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/childprotection"Child protection/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/edballs"Ed Balls/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/children"Children/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/childrensministry"Children's ministry/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Societycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227291257954112118260344580"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Societycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227291257954112118260344580" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

Paradoxically, it's the cause of the absolute saddest thing on the internet, but Animal Crossing has also been a source of joy for millions. Judging from the tepid reviews, Animal Crossing: City Folk's biggest problem appears to be not that it's more of the same joy-inducing escapism, but rather that it is the same joy-inducing escapism.

1UP (C): "Somehow, despite two previous time-sucking outings into the open world of Animal Crossing -- each fully preparing me for what to expect in a sequel -- City Folk still rouses some excitement at the prospect of collecting more rare furniture, fossils, and that one elusive bug or fish. But all of this quickly subsides upon your introduction to Tom Nook, everyone's favorite predatory lender. That's when the realization quickly sets in: This is all just the same old routine with extra goodies that do little to change things in any meaningful way."
GameDaily (70/100): "Sadly, local co-op isn't an option, the graphics look last generation and we had little fun using the WiiSpeak microphone. If you're a fan of the series, you'll want to move into this City right away. Otherwise, pay a casual visit before you settle down."
Games Master UK (80/100): "It's still a great game but fans of the DS version are going to feel short-changed by the lack of imagination in this Wii retread. For everyone who missed out last time, or if you're keen to start such an epic afresh on the TV, this may well be the family game that sends Wii Sports into permanent retirement."

img class=face src=http://planet.ubuntu.com/heads/jono.png alt= pIn the past I have talked quite a bit about diversity in this blog. Diversity is critical to the future development and growth of communities, and the strongest communities are ones with a strong sense of equality and diversity, and a governance infrastructure that supports and celebrates that diversity./p pImportantly, diversity is closely connected to emevolution/em. The essence of diversity is in all of us, but the social acceptance of said diversity is a slower moving animal. There are obvious large social progressions in diversity - gender and race equality being one such example - but within every community and human grouping we see diversity and evolution moving forward, hand in hand./p pTypically when talk about diversity, we use these common examples. Gender. Race. Sexuality. Class. Although important, these poster-children of diversity can sometimes focus the attention away from more subtle and potentially potent forms of diversity that we can encourage, explore and celebrate./p pGeorge B. Graen, author of emDealing with Diversity/em talks about these different types of diversity that we have before us. His interesting hypothesis is that not all differences are equally relevant or important in all circumstances. He broadly divides this diversity into emsurface-level/em diversity which are readily observable characteristics such as the one we have just discussed #8212; race, gender, or age, and emdeep-level diversity/em which points us towards important but less readily transparent entities such as personality, values, and attitudes./p pNow we are rolling./p pI am really keen to explore how we can build diversity in these areas of personality, experiences, perspectives and beliefs. Often these more hidden kinds of diversity teach us life#8217;s most valuable lessons, and we typically learn these lessons for whom we share a deep-level of diversity. I am not suggesting surface-level diversity is unimportant, and I want to be clear here, I am not talking about equality, all equality is important, but I am keen to explore how we can grow this sense of deep-level diversity./p pBut is deep-level diversity a productive and pro-active area in which to focus our efforts? The cards may well be in our favour - Graen suggests that surface-level diversity appears to be waning:/p blockquote p#8220;In a study of 45 teams from electronics divisions of three major corporations, Pelled, Eisenhardt, and Xin (1999) found that the effects of surface-level diversity (age) on emotional conflict diminished as a function of team longevity. Similarly, Chatman and Flynn (2001) found that demographic homogeneity (race and gender) was less predictive of team cooperation as team members interacted with each other#8221;./p /blockquote pInterestingly, at the same time, and in another research study, deep-level diversity is growing:/p blockquote p#8220;In a study of 144 student project teams, Harrison, Price, Gavin, and Florey (2002) found that surface-level diversity negatively affected early cohesion in the team. Over the course of a semester working together, surface-level diversity became less predictive, whereas actual deep-level diversity (measured by conscientiousness, task meaningfulness, and outcome importance) and perceptions of deep-level diversity became increasingly important to team social cohesion and performance#8221;./p /blockquote pAlthough the experiment may seem a little abstract, Graen suggests that #8220;emas team members interact, attributions about underlying differences based on race, gender, and age are likely to be minimized; however, the underlying differences in terms of personality, values, and attitudes are likely to have an increasingly negative effect on team cohesion and performance/em#8220;./p pIn a nutshell, as a community, diversity is everywhere. We have so many opinions, viewpoints, perspectives, recommendations and other reactions to stimulus, and at every step we need to foster and encourage open and frank exchanges of debate, and to bring balance to this debate. The Ubuntu Code Of Conduct, one of the most important documents in the community that I frequent most of the time, draws attention to understanding and respecting this deep-level of diversity, but the Code Of Conduct is sometimes misinterpreted as simply#8221; emdon#8217;t be an asshole/em#8220;. It means far more than that - it encourages us to not only take responsibility for our actions and our reactions, but to also use this diversity as an opportunity to learn and grow; turning differences into opportunities for personal development and learning. If we are ever going to win this fight, we need to cherish and respect this deep-level diversity. The importance of this is not something we can enforce with actions, bullet-points, success criteria or other organisational devices - it boils down to us always remembering why we are doing what we are doing, and standing shoulder to shoulder, connected by our diversity to help us grow and take on the challenges before us./p

via Eurogamer


EA Phenomic believes its co-op card-battler BattleForge could be the game to finally establish real-time strategy as an online gaming genre.

"RTS has never made that transition," producer Sebastian Nell told Eurogamer, highlighting the tremendous success of online RPGs like World of Warcraft.

BattleForge, however, is more of a hybrid; a mixture of MMO, RTS and trading card game.

There are raids, for instance; co-operative player-versus-environment maps for 12 armies featuring giant bosses guarding epic loot. In other words, upgrades for cards, to increase health, abilities and "anything that makes them a lot better". And cards, remember, make up your army.

So cards are the core of BattleForge, and represent units, buildings and spells (frost, fire, nature and shadow). There are no tech-trees or building queues. But instead, players pick 20 cards, pop them down anywhere on the map, and fight.

Retail copies of BattleForge will come with four pre-defined sets of cards from each of the four above powers. Owners will then be able to unlock 10 booster packs containing eight random cards each, "and we guarantee there's at least one rare or ultra-rare card in there," promised Nell. All that adds up to around 100-120 different cards from an initial collection of 200.

And then comes the tricky part: micro-transactions. That's how Nell and team plan to support and grow BattleForge inthe future.

"There have been some misconceptions around that; 'Oh the player who spends the most money has the most powerful cards and is going to win everything,' and, 'It's a rip-off,' and all that. No it's not," said Nell.

"We would be stupid if we did something like that. The community has to give us some credit that we are actually thinking about what we're doing."

The price of the booster packs is not defined, but, said Nell, "It's going to be less than a Magic: The Gathering booster pack that costs EUR 4."

"The past has shown, and other games have shown, that this is actually enough to fund a life service like BattleForge - and we see BattleForge as a life service," he added.

"It's not a fire-and-forget project, it's something that has a persistent value for the players to come back. And we will release new maps for free every month, and release new card editions in a not-yet-determined cycle. Those cards you will have to buy in booster packs."

Nell pointed out that players needn't "spend a single dollar" on extra cards, but can opt to use the in-game trading and auction system to shuffle their decks; cards can be attached to mails and then sent to and fro.

BattleForge is currently in open beta, with a release date expected sometime early next year. Over 2000 invites have been sent out so far, and servers have seen up to 1000 people playing simultaneously online. Final numbers for the beta are not decided.

Nell joked that he was after "trillions" when the game finally launches simultaneously around the world, but he's keen to incorporate as much community feedback before then to get everything tip-top.

There's also, apparently, a chance this may appear on consoles, although this will "definitely not be for a while". There is no DRM and three year-old PCs should run the game.

"If there's innovation on the PC, players will go back," concluded Nell, hoping you will feel the same.

Head over to the official BattleForge website if you fancy a go.

centerimg border=0 title="Google Search By Voice Runs Into Trouble" alt="Google Search By Voice Runs Into Trouble" src="http://www.uberphones.com/photos/2008/11/google-voice-search-iphone.jpg" style="margin: 0 0 0 0;" //center br/pHaving Google a href="http://www.uberphones.com/2008/11/apple/google_search_by_voice_for_the_iphone/" target="_blank"voice search/a via your iPhone is certainly a cool thing, and you’ve got to give Google some praise for its efforts. Of course, everything isn't peachy keen in the world of voice searching, as word is going around that Google’s voice search is having some trouble understanding British accents. Users have reported problems when speaking with an English, Scottish and Kentish accents, to name a few. Of course, you can’t cover all bases, and we’re sure that Google’s voice searching will improve over time, so this is no reason to ditch it for the moment./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/vFPTU3CpJpc0gsgWHnHFUZ4i1Qc/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/vFPTU3CpJpc0gsgWHnHFUZ4i1Qc/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/31592?ns=guardianpageName=Environment%3A+Germany%27s+%27Sun+King%27+makes+bid+for+Opel+carsch=Environmentc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Alternative+energy+%28Environment%29%2CSolar+power+%28Environment%29%2CTravel+and+transport+environmental+impact%2CEnergy+%28Environment%29%2CGermany%2CEnvironment%2CBusiness%2CAutomotive+industry+%28Business%29c5=Motoring%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEnergy%2CEthical+Livingc6=Kate+Connollyc7=2008_11_20c8=1121346c9=articlec10=GUc11=Environmentc12=Alternative+energyc13=c14=h2=GU%2FEnvironment%2FAlternative+energy" width="1" height="1" //divpFrank Asbeck knows how to attract publicity. There was the time Germany's self-styled "Sun King" offered all the country's atomic engineers a job in his solar-technology company if Germany turned its back on nuclear fuel. /ppThe colourful maverick, who within 10 years has turned his Bonn-based SolarWorld into a multimillion euro concern and one of the leading solar companies in the world, has now done it again with his offer to buy the German car-maker Opel./ppThe 49-year-old son of a handyman who trained as an agricultural scientist offered €1bn (£850m), "a serious offer", he said, expressing his wish to turn Opel into Europe's "first green automotive group"./ppMinutes into the start of the working day in the US, Opel's owners, a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/20/us-economy-cars"General Motors/a, flatly refused Asbeck's offer yesterday, issuing the unambiguous statement "Opel is not for sale"./ppAnalysts have been keen to point out that such an offer from a company with an annual turnover of €700m to one with a turnover of €16bn, could have been little more than a PR stunt. /ppOthers remarked that Asbeck, who recently announced plans to build a large compound at one of his plants for a pride of Zimbabwean lions, is a complicated man full of contradictions. Asbeck's penchant for fast sports cars is well-documented. "How can you trust a man who pushes for energy change yet drives around in a gas-guzzling Maserati?" asked Tilman Steffen of the Netzeitung. /ppThe suspicion that Asbeck's offer was not quite what it seemed, deepened when a closer look at his proposal showed that he effectively wanted the company for nothing, demanding a payment of €40,000 for each of Opel's 26,000 workers — equivalent to the €1bn he is prepared to pay for it. /ppBut it could be his remarks had just the effect he wanted. They got him on to the front of many newspapers and ruffled the feathers of German industry, triggering a debate in a poignant week when Opel went to the German government cap in hand looking for a €1.8bn bailout as the car industry feels the squeeze./ppAsbeck said his aim is to transform Opel from a producer of high-emission cars to one of more energy-efficient vehicles, including solar-powered cars, or what he refers to as "sunmotive concept" vehicles./pp"The challenges of climate protection and of the market require a transition from automotive to sunmotive concepts," he said./ppHis remarks are a pointed critique of Germany's car industry which has been painfully slow to rise to the challenge of producing more environmentally efficient vehicles. Many ask, due to the mistakes it has made, why the car industry has any more right to a government handout than other firms. Asbeck says crisis means opportunity and solar-powered cars might be just the boost the economy needs./ppHe insists he is in a position to make the transition where the car industry has failed. His stock-market registered company employs 2,250 photovoltaics experts and has been working on producing a solar-powered car (the "sun mobil") for years, amassing prizes for its efforts./ppSupporters of Asbeck said his ideas should not be dismissed./pp"He's as stubborn as a mule," said Michael Vesper, former minister of North Rhine Westphalia where SolarWorld is based, and a fellow Green party member. "When he wants something he sees it through," he said, pointing to his track record./ppIn 1999 Asbeck used the proceeds from floating SolarWorld on the stock market to buy the chemical giant Bayer's solar branch in Freiburg. By 2004 the shares had risen by 500%, making them the most successful in the German market and two years ago Asbeck's influence spread across the Atlantic when he bought the solar energy section of Shell. In October he opened his first factory in the USA, in Oregon and made sure he was on hand to press the red button which started the controls./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/alternativeenergy"Alternative energy/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/solarpower"Solar power/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/travelandtransport"Travel and transport/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/energy"Energy/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/germany"Germany/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/automotive"Automotive industry/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Environmentcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227197978798112016262243463"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Environmentcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227197978798112016262243463" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a