Arianna Huffington. Photograph: Rose M Prouser/AFP/Getty
The Huffington Post (tagline: Delivering news and opinion since May 9, 2005) is off to a prolific start.
Arianna Huffington - scourge of the American right, candidate for California governor and "the most upwardly mobile Greek since Icarus" - has brought together an eclectic group of journalists, playwrights, academics, politicians and political strategists to comment on whatever issue of the day happens to interest them.
Most of the 'celebrity' bloggers are not exactly household names, but there are plenty of well-known contributors, from director Rob Reiner sounding off about journalistic laziness to former presidential candidate Gary Hart querying the building of US military bases in Iraq.
Larry David's spirited, sarcastic defence of John Bolton and the right to abuse employees is alone worth scrolling through some of the dross. David's links prove him a superb blogger - surely an all-David spin-off blog is in order?
Walter Cronkite's dismal post is so painfully forced that one wonders if Huffington has some glossy 8x10's of the veteran journo in compromising circumstances. "Arianna Huffington has exercised her renowned wisdom to give journalism another boost along the ever busier internet. Her blog site promises to be an interesting challenge for those of us lucky enough to be invited to participate with our occasional contributions," he croons. He also promises to keep blogging, Lord help us.
Tina Brown enlightens us with the top ten things she learned from her cancelled talk show, Topic A. In Lesson number three, Brown recounts the moment when she "realised I no longer know anyone who doesn't have their own talk show". Well now you do.
To my mind, anyone who funds ads which link SUV ownership to the threat to national security deserves respect, and even if this blog seems too unfocused and filled with voices we hear (too often) from elsewhere, it could gel. Just don't expect personal, in-depth confessions from Gwyneth Paltrow.
