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On the BBC, another article looking at the neglible impact of the US governement's efforts to eradicate coca cultivation, despite spending \$4 billion dollars since 2000. I especially like quote from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who "insisted it was working" and more land was discovered to be under cultivation because the survey area increased. Here's a tip for them, if they want to show that its decreasing, they might have to shrink the survey area.

"Coca production was not going to be reduced just because fumigation flights spray some fields, as long as these farmers don't have any other economic options, except to cut down forests to grow coca somewhere else," said Adam Isacson of the Washington-based Center for International Policy.

Via Hit and Run.

The dreadful allocation process for World Cup tickets is being looked into by the Observer. Suffice to say, and it should be no suprise, that the policy used by fifa benefits sponsors and the wealth at the expense of footie fans. Did you now, Coca-Cola, Budweirser, and McDonalds have one in six of all tickets - nearly half a million? Coporate sponsors get 16 per cent of tickets for each game, while each of the competing nations gets 8 percent. Shouldn't it be the other way around? English fans, and others including USA fans, are left to fight for scraps. The full article breaks down the complete ticket allocation by groups.\

There are 25,000 members of the official supporters club, englandfans, of whom 19,000 applied for seats for Group B matches in Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Cologne. The saleable capacity of the three venues combined is 106,704 and under the 8 per cent rule the FA originally received 9,269 tickets. After much lobbying, they squeezed more out of Fifa and have 14,158 in all.\