Make it up as you go along

+According to High Court justices, U.S. government assurances that Julian Assange will be treated fairly once extradited are sufficient for him to be now extradited. These assurances it seems are to be considered ‘facts’ which if they had been known to a lower district court judge would have allowed the lower court to grant the extradition request. Since when was an assertion a fact? It was a fact that Obama pledged to close down Guantanamo but it never happened. It was a fact that an American warship was targeted with torpedoes in the Bay of Tonkin until it was proven not to be a fact (but LBJ wanted an excuse to ramp up the war in Vietnam). It is a fact that no Christmas parties were held in No. 10 last year. But it is a fact that Assange is a hate figure for the establishment, as is Craig Murray. The net is closing in. Not to worry, in two or three month’s time we’ll all be sent a message from Davos that this is the best of all possible worlds. Don’t disturb it! Turn on the artificial snow blowers!
 
+My Guardian subscription’s end draws ever closer. As it does, I can see myself writing a leader, in just one line: ‘Johnson doesn’t take his job seriously.’ There’s only so many ways you can say it, and Guardian writers have explored every version at length. But nothing comes of it without a suggested course of action.