...for a cause for which to fight...

i like to think that there are many things i'd fight for.

i'd fight for freedom (my own and of others), 

i'd fight for the truth.

i'd definitely fight for the last battenburg cake 

in marks & spencer's food hall.

so, my respect goes out to an elderly couple from zhejiang province in china whose intransigence has created this remarkable sight.

the unnamed elderly couple, who we will refer to as mr & mrs unnamedelderlycouple, refused to sign an agreement to allow their house to be demolished to make way for the building of a new road. they say that the compensation offered is not enough to cover relocation and rebuilding costs.

so chinese authorities built the road anyway.

...for the limits of responsible journalism...

i guess this is what's called being 'quick off the mark'.

shocking.

i won't be buying it.

in case it's a spoof.

...for the next tsar...

the results of russia's 2012 presidential election have, in a throw-back to the soviet era, already been announced. 

and the winner is... 

vladimir putin.

his overwhelming victory in the election, due to be held next spring, has cemented his leadership of the country for a further twelve years.

congratulations vlad. it's like you never went away. 

how do you do it?

...under dark and slimy stones...

for the most recently deposed tyrant of the arab world. being careful not to lift too many stones though, for fear i'll discover nothing more than an equally tyrannical successor.