I am pleased to report that Hooting Yard came out on top in a recent poll asking punters “Which blog with the word ‘Hooting’ in its title do you think keeps its finger most firmly on the pulse of the global body politic?” Many thanks to the untold billions of readers who voted for us. Commemorative biros will be in the post shortly (ink not included).

Sometimes, however, one has to hike elsewhere to find out what’s really going on, as airheads and conspiracy theorists like to put it. So today you had better open the door of my cupboard in The Dabbler, where the current unrest in Libya is fully and cogently analysed through the prism of some Libyan proverbs.