So! You think you have it bad, as a writer. You think you have to struggle - read this and think again. Devotion to writing. In Beijing - Woeser's devotees have cause to be extremely worried that she'll soon be thrown into prison for her outspoken words..... Now that's devotion to writing... The... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...

This week, in "The China Syndrome", the three satirists discussed the role of the former Communist country in the global economy.Unlike many countries, China has saved trillions of dollars in foreign reserves.As there are no social programmes, citizens must save around 50% of their money to survive.Families are only allowed one child, so they cannot rely on their income.Their economy has grown by 10% per year for the last 25 years, while a city the size of London is built every year.There are currently 1.3 billion people in China.Investment from China subsides the American economy.China also depends on America and Europe buying their exports.The Chinese Prime Minster warned in 2007 that the economy was "unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable."There are national shopping holidays to...

From cult guides to quirky enthusiasts, Benji Lanyado roots out the finest blogs on some of the world's top...

There is more than a little irony that the 7th Asia Europe meeting (with representatives of half the world's people), focused on the crisis of international finance markets, should be taking place in the Great Hall of the People. The Chinese government have reaffirmed their commitment to stabilise the global market - because China depends on it. China's own economic growth is vital to the rest of us; and our stability and growth is vital to China. But this isn't quite what the Great Hall was originally intended for... I got my own insight into how China is changing with a pre Conference open session with the Young Communist League. This youth organization boasts 73 million members, and spans culture as well as politics. It's not clear whether the young leaders see economic growth or...

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling (both pictured above) launched an emergency £500 billion bank bail-out yesterday equivalent to a £16,000 bill for every British taxpayer. In a radical move to shore up the crumbling economy unthinkable even only a fortnight ago, the government has semi-nationalised a string of High Street banks. But just hours after the drastic measures were announced, Mr Darling admitted that even a staggering £500 billion sum may not be enough - if so he was prepared to go further.. Shortly after, it emerged that the Bank of England had slashed interest rates by 0.5 % . The two-pronged attack was designed to stabilise the highly volatile markets, which have plummeted violently in recent days, and provide liquidity for...

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown (pictured above, looking stressed and clueless) insisted yesterday that he would not resign despite New Labour’s unpopularity and promised: “I will do better.” In an interview from the Labour Party conference in Manchester, UK, Mr Brown waved aside speculation over his future. Asked if he would still be PM at Christmas, he replied: “Of course.” Mr Brown said that the “first crisis of the new global economy” was a test of wisdom and judgement that he would not fail. He also hinted at action to curb City finance sector bonuses, agreeing that greed had helped cause the spectacular financial crashes of recent weeks. “I think it’s fair to say there has been a great deal of irresponsibility,” he said, adding that the...

Since we've always believed, super-strongly, that these amazing heroes and heroines never ever receive anything remotely like the amount of publicity and praise they so richly deserve, we want you all to click here. Thank you! International Paralympics Committee - Official Portal. ================= Incidentally, just in case anyone cared, we've now gone and gotten ourselves back...

A quick blog to say good luck to GB's squad doing their last minute preparations for the Paralympics starting in Beijing tomorrow. We've got 206 athletes competing in 18 Paralympic sports (and did you know there's 50 years between the youngest and oldest of our competitors?). Another lesser known fact is that the Paralympic Games started at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Aylesbury in 1948 when a certain Dr Ludwig Guttmann started a competition between sports groups and other hospitals at the same time as the Olympic Games which was also held in London that year. It's being going strong ever since and all the best to this year's...

While the rest of Britain celebrates our greatest Olympic medal haul for a century, a senior Tory in Boris Johnson's Mayoral team has launched a disgraceful attack on our athletes, claiming they have 'blood on their hands'.Controversial Boris appointed the even bigger loose cannon Coleman to run London's fire and rescue service - despite being fully aware of his less than impressive record of gaffes. Coleman hit the headlines earlier this year after claiming a massive £600-plus in one day for taxi fares - and racking up an expenses claim for taxi that was bigger than all the rest of the members of the Greater London Authority put together - including the Mayor. Coleman's huge taxi-bill on the rates was despite being given a free pass on London Transport.Cabbie Coleman, an openly gay...

Of course when we said goodbye to Beijing at the closing of the Olympic Games, last week, it wasn’t really goodbye. Next week, the Paralympics start. I expect there to be a fair amount of coverage and will follow with interest - just as I discovered a previously dormant interest in Synchronised High Board Diving during the last few weeks, so I expect to uncover an unknown interest in Boccia during the next few weeks. midiman at Flickr But there is the sad omission of learning disabled athletes from the Games. The Olympic spirit passes them by. There is an article from Community Care which highlights this point, confirming that People with learning disabilities were first barred after the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney when it was discovered that members of the Spanish basketball...

I think it’s safe to say that after last week, gold medallist diver Matt Mitcham has graduated from gay icon to outright superstar, and it’s fascinating to see. I have seen a number of bloggers complaining about his attention, that his sexual orientation is and should be irrelevant, that his gold medal win was somehow run of the mill and that his story didn’t matter. I couldn’t agree less - he deserves all of the attention he’s continuing to generate because he’s allowed us to get to know him and share his journey. Not only did he come back from a premature retirement from diving in his late teens, but he suffered from depression and anxiety too, before he took the massive step of coming out publicly (risking his sponsorship) and going to the Olympics...

Many people in the Embassy, along with just around everyone else in Beijing, were involved with the Olympics in some way. And most of us have been trying to find a chance to have a quick rest, because the Paralympics, the world's second largest event, will start next week. For Team GB, this was an astonishing Olympics. Best performance since 1908. Chris Hoy's three and Rebecca Adlington's two great golds. Some heroic individual stories, and extraordinary discipline from very determined athletes. On the Embassy side, we had just under 2,000 guests at events in the course of the Games - to welcome the athletes, promote trade and inward investment, London 2012 and our training facilities across the country. Seven high level visitors came, culminating in the Prime Minister's visit for...

I have written before about how I struggle to understand how people feel ‘pride’ in their country at, say, sporting events. For me, being proud of your country is a bit like being proud of this week’s lottery numbers or something. I just don’t get it. For whatever reason though, patriotism undoubtedly exists and it can be a major vote winner. Politicians know this and they take every opportunity to associate themselves with some kind of patriotic cause. The Olympics is one of the worst instances of politicians engaging in this kind of blatant demagoguery. For instance, Kelly Holmes was given a gong a few years ago because it was felt that her achievements in Athens in 2004 should be “recognised”. Much the same sort of thing will happen this year —...

No. 10 Downing Street has condemned London’s tourist board for featuring a painting of the late moors murderer Myra Hindley (above)  in a promotional film shown at an official party celebrating the handover of the Olympic Games to the capital. Marcus Harvey’s portrait of Hindley, which is comprised of children’s handprints, is seen fleetingly in “Visit London’s” three-minute film, which aimed to give a taster of the city’s rich cultural life prior to the 2012 games. Hindley and her accomplice Ian Brady were involved in the sickening abduction, torture, sexual abuse and murder of children in the 1960’s , with the bodies of their victims being buried on moors above Manchester. The row erupted after the film was shown the night before...

…naff. Now I can understand Jimmy Page being more than happy when he was approached to in the British part of the Olympics closing ceremony but why did he agree to go along with that travesty. Yeah you want to play in front of the 91,000 and the how many billions watching around the world but to agree to have the song sanitized both lyric wise and with that banality singing it, come on James. Have to say it’s typical of this country these days, all the great bands and musicians we’ve had over the years what do they stump up to represent us now? A throw away nobody winner of a phone vote show, who quite frankly will be consigned to the where are they now bargain bin when the Olympic flame lights up over London in four years time. “Whole Lotta Love” is a song...

It’s reported that the Queen is becoming increasingly concerned that Prince William’s girlfriend Kate Middleton (pictured above) still does not have a job. Senior Buckingham Palace aides say that what is now referred to in the Royal inner-circle as the “Kate Problem” should be resolved before William announces his engagement to her. The Sovereign’s private concern about Kate’s lack of a career was first reported in June. She has already been nicknamed “Waity Katy” because of her apparent willingness to do nothing but socialise and shop until William decides when to propose. Now, Royal aides have revealed that the Queen has privately suggested that Kate, 26, should get involved with a charity to counter the potentially damaging public perception that...

The BBC and British media had the diving at these Olympics all wrong. The man to watch was the eventual gold medal winner, 20 year old Aussie Matthew Mitcham. For the two or so of you who don’t know, Matthew came out a few months before the summer games in Beijing, and let me just show you a quick (and shallow) reason why that’s a good thing before I continue: It made him the only out, gay male competitor at the Beijing Olympics. Except he’s not just a good Olympian, he’s a great Olympian. In fact going into his last dive in the 10m platform final, he was running second, but pulled out an astonishing, near perfect dive to eke out a dramatic gold medal win. “It’s absolutely surreal. I never thought that this would be possible,” Mitcham said....

Mayor of London Mr Boris Johnson (pictured above) will be in attendance today as a doubtless bemused if not horrified world audience is scheduled to witness a banal and perplexing introduction to the London Olympics of 2012. The vacuous presentation will include a shipping forecast (!?), a new version of the British national anthem sanctioned by the Queen (can’t wait) and over the hill footballer David Beckham (naff) when the UK capital briefly takes centre stage in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium. As China’s games officially draw to an end with a closing ceremony certain to be epic in scale and execution, London has just eight minutes to mark the official handover of the Olympic flag. Organisers are pinning their hopes on an (allegedly) very British affair...

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