Channel 4 News rounds up the best G8 coverage from Blogosphere





"It seems I spoke too soon."

This summed up the change of mood mid-afternoon yesterday when Edinburgh experienced its first violent confrontations. The Oxfam Blogger, Generation Why, goes on: "Today we have seen riots in parts of Edinburgh with roads closed, shops shut up and sirens blazing for most of the day. These were not the lovely MPH [Make Poverty History] campaigners, but a minority of anti-G8 protesters using the G8 summit events to pursue their own agenda."

Channel 4's own blogger, Brendan Cole, was also caught up in the violence - digital camera in hand. He wrote: "The atmosphere got tenser as the black-clad anarchist protesters continued to lunge at the police. Police horses were shifted and the riot horses brought in as lines of officers forced everyone, agitator, journalist or just spectator into the Princes Street gardens. The doors were locked and none of us could get out until police had been given the go-ahead by control."

More powerful photos at Random Burblings. In a post titled 'This is what democracy looks like', Random Burblings begins:

"They say you should strive to do one thing every day that you have never done before. The thing I did today that I have never done before was to be detained under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Which was nice."

Video evidence

IndyMedia Bloggers were in no doubt who was to blame for the disturbances and believe they have the video evidence to back up their position. The blog posted at 05.47 this morning reads: "Corporate Media has been blaming anti-capitalists for disruption in Edinburgh on Monday. But after penning in many people, Police made the mistake of penning in some locals. They reacted, some got arrested and many retaliated."

It continues: "Many English police were drafted in and this caused a lot of bad feeling with local residents. And it really shows in this video." You'll have to judge for yourselves.

Elsewhere in Blogosphere, there's been much reaction to President Bush's pre-Summit comments.

Climate change

Under a post called 'Bush gives Blair the elbow on climate change', the Friends of the Earth blog reads: "According to the President levels of pollution have not increased in the United States since 1992 - despite the fact that carbon dioxide emissions have increased by more than 18 per cent between 1990 and 2004.President Bush begs to differ with every figure that the United Nations, or anyone else, has published, it seems."

Meanwhile, both the Adam Smith Institute Blog and the Guardian-inspired Kick-ASS Blog make much of the President's apparent commitment to phase out US agricultural subsidies if Europe moves on the common agricultural policy (CAP). Blogging on Kick-ASS, Victor Keegan writes: "No. I wasn't imagining it - I have checked the text. President Bush has said in stronger language than I have ever heard that the US will give up agriculture subsidies if Europe does the same."

Live 8 re-visited

Still some fall-out on the weekend's Live 8 series of concerts.

For the libertarian Samizdata the difference between 1985's Live Aid and Saturday's event is clear. The former, writes Perry de Havilland, "was asking for private money, and as it was mine to give, I gave some".

The latter, however, was designed to "induce the governments of the G8 to take money from their tax payers and assign it to nebulous and frequently counter-productive projects in Africa, often in effect propping up the regimes who are the single biggest cause of their own nation's problems and directly responsible for local poverty."

So there. But even an event so at odds with Samizdata's political outlook has some welcome side effects, admits de Havilland. "The Live 8 extravaganza has quite a few people associated with it making demands for the developed world ... to open their markets to the Third World. And this is rightly targeted at the G8 leaders. Quite so. What the hellholes of the world need is more globalisation, not less, if they are to lift themselves out of their dire conditions."

Ask Blair

Finally, if your not one of the privileged few with direct access to world leaders take a visit to this Action Aid-commissioned site where you can quiz all eight leaders. Type a question about climate change and they'll shrug their shoulders. Try 'debt', on the other hand, and watch as they show you the money. Swear and... well, try for yourselves.

Seen some unmissable G8 coverage? Blogging yourself? Marching through Edinburgh, camera phone in hand? We want to hear from you. Send your suggestions, links and photos to news@channel4.com.

More G8 coverage
- Does the G8 Summit matter? The Bloggers' view
- Africa's tragedy - a benefit circus? by John Pilger
- No more tea and sympathy: George Monbiot interview
- G8 Picture Gallery
- Jon Snow's African Diary
- Congo's Tin Soldiers: Jonathan Miller's exclusive report
- Photo Gallery: Jonathan Miller in Congo