Not many words

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

I used up too many words yesterday, and have hardly any left. This may come as a relief. I think perhaps that pith is called for, after that long wedding story.

It seems surreal and not quite possible that we are at war. I do not have anything particularly useful to add to the debate. I am torn between my inner liberal interventionist (there are days when I would go in and smash up the Generals in Burma, if the political will were there) and my more pacific pragmatist, who thinks that running into other countries never ends well. On balance, I think perhaps it was the right decision. Should the West not save the people of Benghazi if it can?

Meanwhile, Mrs Palin has gone to India. No one really knows why. I watched her being interviewed in front of a laughing audience. I'm not sure I ever saw anyone quite so perky. Asked about Libya, which she can almost certainly see from her house, she said: 'Well, there is an American convention that we do not criticise our President while on foreign soil.' She then criticised the President on foreign soil. If she were in the Oval Office, she said, there would have been a lot less 'dithering'. Call me old-fashioned, but I quite like a president who takes a little time and thought when embarking on military adventures. The thought of Mrs Palin not dithering before she picks up the red telephone makes me feel slightly unusual.

I do hope she runs, though. I would pay good money to see a primary fight between her and Newt Gingrich. My main political question: would any sentient electorate actually vote in a man named after a small amphibious creature? That's why you come here. For the BIG questions.

A few quick pictures for you.

Today, even the Duchess deigned to join in the whole stick thing:

For this one, just business as usual:

(That little yearny face almost kills me, every time.)

The hill:

A photographer once came here, looked at the hill, and said: it will be different every day. And he was absolutely right.