You could easily be forgiven for thinking this whole Second Life thing has got out of hand. The Swedes have opened an embassy there, for goodness' sake - they never did that for Pong or Sonic the Hedgehog.

So my first thoughts when I heard of the arrival of a French National Front tent in Second Life were, frankly, 'yawn'. But I went to take a look anyway, and was pretty impressed by what I saw - certainly enough to justify a story.

We got some nice pictures - exploding bombs full of anti-Nationan Front signs, some interesting pictures of the FN headquarters complete with a colourful crew of visitors. Do Snowmen smoking spliffs ever visit the real-world FN offices?

Shooting this kind of piece has its advantages. No need for a camera - you can capture all the pictures you need straight to the hard disk. But you get some strange problems, too. The hair of my avatar (that's my digital alter ago to you tech laggards) seems to have a will of its own. I would line up a crucial shot, only to see my barnet fly off my head and hang provocatively in the middle of the shot. At least I know how it feels to be Bruce Forsyth.

Still - worse things can happen to journalists in Second Life - like the journalist whose interview was terminated by an invasion of flying phalluses. Is there any hostile environments course that can prepare you for that?

Watch the story here.

(Thanks to Hamlet Au of the excellent New World Notes blog for his help with the story).