For me, this album's highlight is the acoustic version of 'Roads to madness', with slightly amended words :-

Most of this seems memory now. Have we gone too far to turn back now?
We're not quite what we thought we were, but then again, we're maybe more.

The blood words promised - we've spoken. Releasing the names from the circle.
Maybe we can leave here now and transcend the boundaries

But now we're standing here. I'm awaiting some grand transition.
The future is just past forgotten When you're on the road to madness

I wonder where we're going.

Times measures rust as we crawl, and we've seen the faces in the looking glass
Stop the screaming - Stop the screaming now
It's time to get a hold of some reality.

What's this war about? Nobody seems to know.
Have we paid the price for cheaper oil?
For what? For what? Can you tell me?
To see the far side of shadow?

And still we're standing here, awaiting some grand transition
We're fools in search of wisdom, and we walk the road to madness

We're on the road to madness.

Pounding rythmns echo me. Oh won't you take somewhere far away.

And still we're standing here, awaiting some grand transition
Oh maybe one day we won't walk the road to madness

I wonder where we're going.
Can you tell me where we're going?

The set-list on the European tour to promote this album consisted of the whole of 'Operation: Mindcrime' plus 'Best I can', 'Empire', 'NM-156', and 'Screaming in digital'. During the speech in 'Spreading the disease', the crowd yelled as one 'While we pay for wars in Iraq'. As 'Eyes of a stranger' drew to a close, Geoff emerged wearing a denim jacket, with a picture of George W Bush on the back. Above this picture, screaming in large letters, was the word liar.

The band leave you in no doubt that they don't support the war in Iraq. The counters below give you some idea of the cost of the war, both in monetary terms and, far more importantly, in civilian casualties.

Saddam Hussein is an evil person; there's no doubt that the world is a better place for him no longer being in power. He scarred people for minor crimes, by chopping off part of their ear. For more serious crimes, his doctors surgically removed the offender's right hand. This is significant because Muslims eat with their right hand - not to do so is considered unclean. The humiliation would be complete. For the most serious offenders, torture and death would be the order of the day.

Personally, I can only believe the war is about oil. George W Bush has stated as one of his aims to make America more self-sufficient. Energy, and reducing the dependency on foreign oil is a factor of this. One way he wants to achieve this is to start drilling for oil in Alaska - specifically in a wildlife refuge. You can read about it here.

However, I can't do anything about American foreign policy. What I can do is vow never again to vote for his lapdog Tony Blair or his pathetic bunch of apologists the Labour Party. That's the thing that has disappointed me most about this whole sorry saga - the fact that Tony has blindly gone along with George. It's funny that Iraq was never a UK priority until George got a bee in his bonnet about the whole situation.

If George and Tony had started this whole campaign by saying "Saddam's a baddie, let's get him" then fair enough. They didn't - they started a whole campaign around weapons of mass destruction that don't exist, based on evidence that has largely been discredited (in the UK by the Butler report). But why would Saddam be a target? Sure enough, he'd be close to the top of the list. Governments in North Korea and Zimbabwe (surely as a Commonwealth country Zimbabwe should be more deserving of UK military aid than Iraq?) are starving the population. There's Government sponsored genocide in Sudan. When can we expect coalition forces to invade these countries? The answer, of course, is that they won't. So what does Iraq have that these countries don't? The most plentiful supply of oil of any country in the world (after Saudi Arabia).