I caught some of the second presidential "debate" via The Daily Show and what struck me was not McCain's derisory referral to Obama as "That One" nor his addled wanderings around the dais as Obama was speaking.

No, what amazed me was how almost life-like he looked.

Michelle Obama did a great job too. If you missed her, take a look.

We're well used to hearing about states that allegedly sponsor terrorism - indeed, we can name the usual suspects easily: Iran, North Korea, the USA, Israel (sorry, two of those just enact terrorism themselves directly).

Now it seems we can add a new name to the list. Icelandic bankers are apparently terrorists. Why else would our government have employed anti-terror legislation to freeze Icelandic assets in the the UK? Surely those lovely Nordic types (statistically the most beautiful nation on earth apparently) with the coolest named banks in the world (Landsbankinn anyone?) can't be that big a threat to global peace and security?

A cynic might suggest that this demonstrates that the laws in question are framed in such a way as to allow the government to do pretty well whatever it likes. Yesterday, in the Lords, Lord Onslow said roughly that.