The Observer blog comes back from its holidays to find that people have been pouring through this story in their thousands. Robin's piece about a new ultra-virulent strain of HIV seems to have been picked up in the states, which for a limey site like ours is like winning the traffic lottery.
But alarmingly, some of the attention has come from rightwing Christian bloggers who are citing our story as evidence that God hates swingers. We won't link to them quite yet because they might come and read us and be offended and post angry comments along the lines of 'you people hate freedom, Jesus may forgive you but I won't now hold still for a second while I load my .44'.
Also grabbing eyeballs was an Iraq news story:Allies move in on top terrorist. Peter Beaumont, Observer Foreign Affairs Editor, reports that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is holed up in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
But we are a bit disappointed that so few people took a look at this story, telling the tale of the two brutal Liverpool gangsters granted royal pardons and released onto the streets when Michael Howard was Home Secretary. After nearly nine years the police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the release.
The Blog's lawyers wince at the proximity of the name of the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition to references to police investigations.
Don't get too excited, there's absolutely no suggestion that Howard did anything illegal or improper. He was following the advice of a judge at the time, as is good and just. But the whole case was rotten to the core, and to have allowed a couple of gun-toting murderous thugs back onto the streets looks like spectacularly bad judgement. Check out Nick Cohen on the subject in our comment pages.
Why aren't you people reading this stuff? Don't tell us you're bored of seeing the Tories exposed as rank hypocrites. Surely there's always room on the squirming torso of Michael Howard's political career for a well-aimed kick from our sandaled liberal foot?
