On Monday Wikileaks released a mountain of documents on the war in Afghanistan through the Guardian, the New York Times and German weekly Der Spiegel.

The picture painted is chaotic: failed attempts to win the 'hearts and minds' of the Afghan people, numerous incidences of civilian casualties and evidence that both Iran and Pakistan are helping the Taliban.

The Guardian, the New York Times and Der Spiegel have published a huge cache of secret military files from the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, detailing the war in Afghanistan. Julian Assange of Wikileaks is holding a press conference at noon today at the Frontline Club. The conference will be broadcast live.

Anyone still staying in touch with some politics will know of an election expenses scandal involving Tory "non-dom" Zac Goldsmith (MP for Richmond).

What has got me blogging though are his tactics on the subsequent interview about it on Channel 4 news. If any of you haven't seen it here is the link:

Following glowing recommendations from John Saunders, Suzanne Franks and BBC Radio 4 (for which many thanks), I have just finished 'Nothing to Envy - Real Lives in North Korea,' by Barbara Demick.  This account of state repression and human misery in North Korea deserves every syllable of praise already heaped upon it, and more. It is extended reporting at its most brilliant. Demick, a former Korea correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, has the ace correspondent's eye for detail. Having read it I feel I know more about life in the world's last entirely unreconstructed Stalinist state a.k.a. the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, than I thought it possible to learn. I know infinitely more than the repulsive Kim Il-Sung (brutal and depraved leader of his benighted homeland from 1953 until his death in 1994) and his repugnant son Kim Jong-il, ever intended me to know.

During the Second World War, pioneering female war correspondents insisted that they could go anywhere as long as they had a typewriter and a toothbrush. Author Sarah Blake was inspired by them and she has recently published a novel, The Postmistress, in which the heroine broadcasts from London during the Blitz. During her research for the book she took a close look at the careers of several excellent women journalists including Martha Gelhorn, Clare Hollingworth (who witnessed German preparations for the invasion of Poland) and Sigrid Schultz. Blake has written about these fascinating women in this feature for Stella, the Sunday Telegraph colour magazine. Many thanks to Lesley Phippen for spotting it.   

 I start my 4-week work placement at Sky on Monday as part of the Bob Friend Memorial Scholarship.

For those of you who want to follow my progress or just want be generally nosey, I'll try and update this new blog every evening, recounting the day's activities.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer break so far!

 Once in a while I read a column and really, really wish I had written it. For weeks I have been looking for the historical analogy with which to illustrate the argument that removing debt from the economy is not the same as taking money out of circulation. Dominic Lawson in today's Independent has found exactly the right example: Frederic Bastiat's advice to the French National Assembly in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. In doing so Mr Lawson also offers a compelling antidote to the argument that reduced state spending is inimical to growth. He also offers a powerful incentive to read and reread the history of the French revolution. It inspired Karl Marx too, of course (the revolution that is, not Dominic Lawson's column).  

For the best piece of writing on England's shambolic performance against Germany in South Africa, it stands to reason that we must turn to an Irishman writing in an American magazine. Roddy Doyle has form writing a good game; his description in The Van (I think, though I prepare to stand corrected) of Ireland's 1990 World Cup penalty shoot-out is terrific. And his piece for the New Yorker shows he's lost none of that lightness of touch. He starts the piece wanting to back England to demonstrate his country's post-post-Colonial state. He ends it "cheering on every German attack and sneering at everything English." A friend texts him. “'Did u see the disallowed goal?' I texted back: 'Yeah. A disgrace.' Then I added, 'Brilliant.'"

The volcanic eruption in Iceland didn't just disrupt flights across Europe for a few weeks in April, it also played a role in the downfall of the commander of the United States' operation in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.

President Obama yesterday sacked the four star general after comments in a Rolling Stone profile piece came to light. (By the way, here's the full article).

More shorthand succes to report. Rebecca Hughes has passed at 110wpm, and Zehra Mullick at 100wpm. Nice work both of you.

So Becci sits atop the new CfJ Shorthand Hall of Fame, which I've now set up as promised. Can anybody beat her to the Olympian heights of 120wpm?