h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dear elmsyrup,

I am so impressed by your taking active steps to oppose this war. I just wanted to say that and that your posts are always great reading and it would be good to see more of your thoughts here.

I read in the paper today that the police etc are planning a huge "disaster drill" in the city, right near where I work near Bank tube. My guess is that a lot of people will be terrified before they realise it isn't real. I hope there is enough warning to prevent this.

I have been so reluctant to engage in any way with the news leading up this war. It just makes me feel powerless and frustrated. And I am concerned about the powers' ability to deal with a real terrorist threat.

News of the demise of Buffy affects me deeply as well. I know that this should not be on the same scale as an impending war, and yet I am shameless. I hope that at least she is not killed off at the end of Season 7 but instead is allowed to walk off into the sunset free of her slayer responsibilites, and maybe on the arm of true love?

At least that would be somehow satisfying to the hard core fan.

Talk to you soon. Hope the weather in Wales is fine.

Wow, thanks, I'm flattered! I know what you mean, sometimes it almost seems too much to read the ever more depressing news. I have a personal agenda which biases me actually, I almost have hopes that this will ruin Tony Blair's career. This is the only time he hasn't tried to make himself look good at any cost, and he's picked the wrong thing to make a stance about. And he claims that those who are anti-war are pro-Saddam. There have been some alarming people that have connected themselves to this cause, however the great majority want him out, but peacefully. There are two things which make me against this war- firstly there will be a lot of pain to the Iraqi citizens, which is totally unfair and after all it is they who have been affected by the sanctions, their leaders not so much. Secondly there are rules when people engage in a war. The first thing they need to do is establish a just cause. The reasons given are bad reasons as they are somewhat trumped up, and the humanitarian reasons have been mentioned only latterly by Blair and not at all by Bush. Who, let us not forget, wasn't even democratically elected himself. You never know, perhaps the vetos will be the deciding factor not to go ahead. We have so many troops there already, though... I agree with you on the Buffy thing. I would like to see Faith sort herself out and become a top class slayer (with her personality no doubt she will need a watcher with her for always, though) and for Buffy to be able to choose what she does with her life. But wouldn't this be an anti-climax for her now she is so used to being The Chosen One (even though she technically isn't), and I doubt it would satisfy the fans. I'm now glad I don't watch Sky, as it gives me maybe an extra year of being a Buffy viewer.