Nobel trend

There has been an awful big line-up of anti-war Nobels this year. El Baredei, Schelling. Today, Harold Pinter:

And, yes, he regretted voting for Blair in 1997. "I can't believe what I voted for," he said three years ago. And a lot of people are in my boat, I think. That's where I feel ashamed. I mean, as a British citizen, of what has happened."

As war in Iraq loomed, Pinter said he believed that "Mr. Bush and his gang do know what they're doing, and Blair, unless he really is the deluded idiot he often appears to be, also knows what they're doing."

"They are determined, quite simply, to control the world and the world's resources. And they don't give a damn how many people they murder on the way. And Blair goes along with it," he said. "The idea that he has influence over Bush is laughable. His supine acceptance of American bullying is pathetic."

Nonetheless, Blair's office saluted Pinter's triumph. "Of course we congratulate Harold Pinter on the recognition that he has received," the prime minister's official spokesman said.