Cheese is all about good taste which is more than you can say for some of the cartoons in that Danish newspaper. Cheese has to be tasty since it is packed with cholesterol.

As for the cartoons, I thought that a couple of them were humorous and others fairly innocuous, but one or two were deliberately insulting to all Muslims, even the relatively secular in spirit. One in particular was, in today's context where many European nations, we have to say it, have participated in the pointless slaughter of Muslims in Iraq, stunningly offensive and stupid. It was about equivalent to publishing cartoons of Jesus as a child molester.

I thought about calling this irregular series of diaries stratergy (or is it strategery) 101, but I thought it sounded a bit pedantic and, besides, I couldn't spell it.

I want to focus on the WORLD AFTER BUSH. Please excuse the caps, but it is that soon-to-be eternal moment that gets me up in the morning and keeps me hopeful. Remember: worst president ever probably applies to the future as well as the past.

We need to think carefully and collectively about that future. It is too soon to pick a candidate, but not too soon to start to frame 2008. The right frame might provide common themes for 2006 and could help to shape, and maybe even help to pick, the right candidate for 2008.