Story in this morning's Guardian about an exhibit at the British Museum that is to detail the destruction of Babylon by US coalition forces. In the world inhabited by archaeologists, every bucketful of sand is of potential historical value and therefore should never be used to fill sandbags (!) or in any other way be disturbed. Along come some guys from Kentucky or wherever in their tanks, tearing up ancient processional avenues and knocking down mud brick walls. This is an ongoing tragedy that began with the wholesale looting of the Iraqi National Archaeological Museum in the immediate aftermath of the 2003 invasion and sadly, continues all over the country. Too depressing to contemplate on a Monday morning... i'd rather hear about Charlton Heston's star-studded cremation, which has got to mean that he's not going to be interred holding a gun. What betrayal of historical import is that?