As diligent students of British politics understand, most votes under our first past the post system make no real difference to the result of a general election. The ones that count are those cast by swing voters in marginal constituencies. The Conservatives have been confident in their assertions that, despite a narrowing gap in nationwide opinion surveys, their lead among these defining voters in the marginals is big enough to make the crucial difference. A carefully targeted poll in this morning's Times suggests their confidence may be misplaced.
This half-hour radio 4 programme on the increasingly prevalent use of pilot-less drones in war gives a nice overview of the subject. Being so short, it doesn't go into some of the thornier issues surrounding their use - the law on extrajudicial executions, the differences in accountability between military and CIA use of drones - but it's extremely enlightening nonetheless.
