"Do you have a permit for that, sir?"

I see that the Chinese government has banned Tibetan Buddhist lamas from reincarnating without government permission. According to the order issued by the communist regime:

The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid.

Quite how they're going to stop anyone from being reincarnated, should the Buddhists turn out to be right about that after all, is anyone's guess. Of course, the actual aim of the Chinese government is to reduce the influence of the Dalai Lama over Tibet, and, particularly, over the selection of his successor.

Incidentally, the "actor" Steven Seagal is among those living people who is, supposedly, a "reincarnated living Buddha". Of course, so long as he stays out of China and Tibet, he is presumably free to reincarnate - preferably in a country devoid of film-making technology - whenever he pleases.

Shoot to kill

An online game in China that allows players to eradicate corrupt officials has proved so popular its website has crashed, state media reports.

Since its launch eight days ago, the game, "Incorruptible Fighter", is reported to have been downloaded more than 100,000 times.

The game was devised by a regional government in east China to highlight the problems of corrupt officialdom.

[...]

"Incorruptible Fighter" allows players to get ahead by killing and torturing corrupt officials, while assisting the upstanding ones.

Perhaps we could have a similar game here. There would be something wonderfully cathartic about pumping such corrupt lowlife as Peter Mandelson and Keith Vaz full of holes. Virtual holes, obviously...