12°C

So we said we'd give the Afghans elections, and we did.
Trouble is, it turns out we gave them one of Iran's.
With claims of epic ballot-stuffing, voter intimidation, fraud and
vote-rigging, this poll seems to be apeing the one that got Mahmoud Ahmedinejad back into power over the border in Tehran.
The other key feature - a limbo-dancingly low turnout - suggests a model closer to home: a UK local council election.
So now it looks ...

I did a bit of digging the other day trying to answer this question: how many of our Foreign Office types out in Afghanistan can speak the local lingo?It was inspired by an MPs' foreign affairs report, which claimed none of our diplomats in the 'Stan could speak Pashto and only two service types could.That can't be true, I thought.Seeing as it's the tongue favoured by the Pastuns, ie many of those living in Helmand, that...

Now here’s an angle on
the Afghanistan election I guarantee you won’t read anywhere else.

Why oh why does every
democratic Afghan election coincide with the deciding fixture in a home Ashes
series?<...

Time for some self-congratulation
here at Britain’s best-read blog.

Firstly, the huge
drugs scandal at Bath Rugby Club was first predicted in this newspaper back in
February.