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I read somewhere that Jeremy Paxman should get a Knighthood,
I thought he already had one?

Perhaps he will receive something in the post

Maybe that nice man from Mill Hill has a spare peerage left for Jeremy

OK before I watch your coverage of Kosovo think I need some insight into how, historically, a province, presumably once Christian Serb and so important to the Serb Christian psyche, became so overwhelmingly populated by Albanian Muslims. Anyone help ?

Having passed a potential post around several people in order to get independent assessments as to whether it might contain anything which would unjustly 'offend' rather than stimulate thought over, it appears, despite their views, the NN blog moderator has yet to pass it for publication. In brief - do not confuse 'cleverness' with intelligence. That's the reason we're in the mess that we are. My (hopefully to appear post) endeavours to continue to highlight how and why. Nobody ever made an omelette without breaking eggs.

Along with Barrie Singleton, I appeal for the publication of Adrienne's stalled post. There is a whiff of censorship around here and that is not good. Her posts are always factual and evidence based, only stating the truth (which may be unpalatable to some) and should be published. Surely anyone who reads this blog and who objects will have the intelligence and strength of character to be able to refute and then defend their case? Please treat us like adults - we are perfectly capable of looking after ourselves.

Along with Barrie Singleton, I appeal for the publication of Adrienne's stalled post. There is a whiff of censorship around here and that is not good. Her posts are always factual and evidence based, only stating the truth (which may be unpalatable to some) and should be published. Surely anyone who reads this blog and who objects will have the intelligence and strength of character to be able to refute and then defend their case? Please treat us like adults - we are perfectly capable of looking after ourselves.

Barrie,
The Gods are making me damned furious. It is some comfort to know that when posts start disappearing it is because someone is trying to supress something. It follows that we might be on to them (whoever they are). Perhaps we should start a Not Newsnight blog in parallel where speech is free and Adrienne may have her say.
Regarding impotence, as long as it lasts only 15 minutes I shall not worry overmuch - unless it's THAT 15 minutes ;-)

Gordon Neil - post 8 - Kosovo is historically part of Albania, and prior to that both were part of Illyria. I looked it all up in the Encyclopaedia Britannica when Blair was bombing Serbia. The whole area, much larger than modern Albania, was once Illyria, which became part of the Roman Empire. (There is an Albanian or more likely Kosovan cafe in West Hampstead called Illyria, so they remember that.) Illyria also took in the east coast of Italy, at one stage.

Before the Romans, in the Bronze Age, the same people lived there. It is thought they were Aryans who had migrated across empty lands from the part of the world now known as Bangla Desh. Albanians are the direct descendants of these Bronze Age tribes - they stayed put, and migrated no further. St Paul and St Andrew passed through in the 1st century, bringing Christianity to Dacia.

In the 4th century Goths and Visigoths swept through, but did not stay. In the 6th century A.D., a horde of Slavs swept into Illyria from Russia and occupied a large (northern) chunk of it. These are the modern-day Serbs. The Illyrians, a rather laid-back people, were shunted around a bit between the Serbs and the Ottoman Turks after that, but they managed to hang on to Albania (including Kosovo) despite Serb efforts to grab that too. They converted to Islam in the Middle Ages to please the Turks, who overran the whole area including Serbia itself. It could be said that the Turks saved the Illyrians from total extermination by the Serbs - looks that way to me anyway.

Following the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire, Albania went communist in rather an extreme way - but Kosovo got left out, and the Serbs kept on laying claim to it. Perhaps all Illyrians might like Kosovo to merge with Albania - but Albania is rather a forbidding place, along the lines of the Starkadder Doom in Cold Comfort Farm. So Kosovan Illyrians might prefer to be independent of both Serbia and Albania. I suspect they are past caring much - when elephants fight the grass gets trampled, and they have been the grass for centuries, one way or another. They have massacred a lot of Serbs in self-defence at various points in time though - if you are a Scot, this may sound familiar.

So far as I know Albania has not laid claim to Kosovo, and if it does it will be ignored by NATO (maybe that is one reason why it hasn't bothered). A claim in international law might well succeed, due to the history - but unless Kosovans really want to join up with Albania, there is little point in Albania laying a legal claim to Kosovo. Who knows what any Illyrian thinks - we only hear from the Serbs, they have even managed to convince everyone they were there first when the opposite is true.

Gordon Neil - post 8 - Kosovo is historically part of Albania, and prior to that both were part of Illyria. I looked it all up in the Encyclopaedia Britannica when Blair was bombing Serbia. The whole area, much larger than modern Albania, was once Illyria, which became part of the Roman Empire. (There is an Albanian or more likely Kosovan cafe in West Hampstead called Illyria, so they remember that.) Illyria also took in the east coast of Italy, at one stage.

Before the Romans, in the Bronze Age, the same people lived there. It is thought they were Aryans who had migrated across empty lands from much further East. Albanians are the direct descendants of these Bronze Age tribes - they stayed put, and migrated no further. St Paul and St Andrew passed through in the 1st century, bringing Christianity to Dacia.

In the 4th century Goths and Visigoths swept through, but did not stay. In the 6th century A.D., a horde of Slavs swept into Illyria from Russia and occupied a large (northern) chunk of it. These are the modern-day Serbs. The Illyrians, a rather laid-back people, were shunted around a bit between the Serbs and the Ottoman Turks after that, but they managed to hang on to Albania (including Kosovo) despite Serb efforts to grab that too. They converted to Islam in the Middle Ages to please the Turks, who overran the whole area including Serbia itself. It could be said that the Turks saved the Illyrians from total extermination by the Serbs - looks that way to me anyway.

Following the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire, Albania went communist in rather an extreme way - but Kosovo got left out, and the Serbs kept on laying claim to it. Perhaps all Illyrians might like Kosovo to merge with Albania - but Albania is rather a forbidding place, along the lines of the Starkadder Doom in Cold Comfort Farm. (Though it is unspoiled I guess, and its carbon footprint probably extremely low - the Starkadders can no longer be seen as hopelessly backward.)

Anyway, Kosovan Illyrians might prefer to be independent of both Serbia and Albania. I suspect they are past caring much, so long as they don't get massacred. They used to massacre back, but now they are too small and weak. I suppose they are grateful to NATO. They really were about to be wiped out by a bunch of terrifying psychopaths.

So far as I know Albania has not laid claim to Kosovo, and if it does it will be ignored by NATO (maybe that is one reason why it hasn't bothered). A claim in international law might well succeed, due to the history - but Albanians seem happy to keep themselves to themselves. Who knows what any Illyrian thinks - we only hear from the Serbs, they have even managed to convince everyone they were there first when the opposite is true.

Here's a thought - to the extent that one censors/censures one class of behaviours, is one not thereby to be tacitly (if not unwittingly) reinforcing others? If so, then to whose advantage?

Gordon Neil - post 8 - Kosovo is historically part of Albania, and prior to that both were part of Illyria. I looked it all up in the Encyclopaedia Britannica when Blair was bombing Serbia. The whole area, much larger than modern Albania, was once Illyria, which became part of the Roman Empire. (There is an Albanian or more likely Kosovan cafe in West Hampstead called Illyria, so they remember that.) Illyria also took in the east coast of Italy, at one stage.

Before the Romans, in the Bronze Age, the same people lived there. It is thought they were Aryans who had migrated across empty lands from much further East. Albanians are the direct descendants of these Bronze Age tribes - they stayed put, and migrated no further. St Paul and St Andrew passed through in the 1st century, bringing Christianity to Dacia.

In the 4th century Goths and Visigoths swept through, but did not stay. In the 6th century A.D., a horde of Slavs swept into Illyria from Russia and occupied a large (northern) chunk of it. These are the modern-day Serbs. The Illyrians, a rather laid-back people, were shunted around a bit between the Serbs and the Ottoman Turks after that, but they managed to hang on to Albania (including Kosovo) despite Serb efforts to grab that too. They converted to Islam in the Middle Ages to please the Turks, who overran the whole area including Serbia itself. It could be said that the Turks saved the Illyrians from total extermination by the Serbs - looks that way to me anyway.

Following the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire, Albania went communist in rather an extreme way - but Kosovo got left out, and the Serbs kept on laying claim to it. Perhaps all Illyrians might like Kosovo to merge with Albania - but Albania is rather a forbidding place, along the lines of the Starkadder Doom in Cold Comfort Farm. (Though it is unspoiled I guess, and its carbon footprint probably extremely low - the Starkadders can no longer be seen as hopelessly backward.)

Anyway, Kosovan Illyrians might prefer to be independent of both Serbia and Albania. I suspect they are past caring much, so long as they don't get massacred. They used to massacre back, but now they are too small and weak. I suppose they are grateful to NATO. They really were about to be wiped out by a bunch of terrifying psychopaths.

So far as I know Albania has not laid claim to Kosovo, and if it does it will be ignored by NATO (maybe that is one reason why it hasn't bothered). A claim in international law might well succeed, due to the history - but Albanians seem happy to keep themselves to themselves. Who knows what any Illyrian thinks - we only hear from the Serbs, they have even managed to convince everyone they were there first when the opposite is true.