Get up off the sofa and ... go to the cinema

Its all Ming today and while we welcomed his comments a couple of months ago on human rights, China and the Olympics, we havent got a lot to say here in the office about his age and what happens next. Too old? Too well-dressed? Should it be Huhne, Clegg, Kramer or Opik? (okay, I know Lembits not going to run, but it would have been interesting!).

Well, we dont know, so were not doing Ming. Instead theres Burma. Quite a bit of coverage of carrot and stick diplomacy and Japan has joined the growing number of countries that are cutting off aid to Burma for failing to deal with human rights.

But is Burma deep in denial? The government mouthpiece publication the New Light of Myanmar is carrying quotes about how "there is no one in Myanmar who is in prison for political reasons". Could this be, one is tempted to ask, slightly flying in the face of reality? Certainly it overlooks Amnesty reports stretching back years and the small and rather obvious matter of Aung San Suu Kyi being kept under house arrest for 12 out of the last 18 years.

Look out for protests and comment for Free Aung San Suu Kyi day, next Wednesday, the 24th. This should be pretty big.

Meanwhile, I havent been to the cinema much lately (too may DVDs from Sofa Cinema), but Rendition seems well worth a look. Not only has it got the newly single (Jonathan Ross exclusive!) Jake Gyllenhaal and new ex Reese Witherspoon on opposite sides of an extraordinary rendition abducted-to-face-torture story, it has Meryl Streep as head of the CIA! Come on! Its got to be worth a try.

Anyway, its out this Friday and Amnesty has got a real life take on it in this news release (plus, of course, that harrowing two and half minute film of enhanced interrogation from our Unsubscribe campaign).

As youll know if youve been scanning our blogs, we launched Unsubscribe last week and its great that already 20,000 have unsubscribed at unsubscribe-me.org. Heres an excellent blog from Nosey Rosie in Birmingham. Shes got some nice stories about doing a BBC placement last week, as well as taking part in an Amnesty Unsubscribe/Guantanamo demo on Saturday, seeing the Editors live in Birmingham and going to a house party later on. Ok! Like the energy.

Finally, and staying with modern beat-combos, check out this vid of Unitaur attacks the UK. Its promoting some free gigs, including from the pop-tastic These New Puritans (theyre good, like Joy Division, but young!). Will the UK survive this onslaught? Maybe. Maybe not.