Johann Hari writes a regular column for the Independent, which also publishes creatures like Robert Fisk. Don't hold that against him. He does not approve of Bush, but he does not belong that large cadre of the British left that compares him unfavorably to Saddam. He also writes well. Imagine CalPundit moved from California's sunny shores over to Britain wet shores. And I will forgive much economic ignorance from someone who wrote this, in the pages of the Independent, no less:

Still we do not take Stalin's crimes seriously in this country. .    .    . [T]o give another, trivial but revealing example: Gordon
Brown's former spin doctor, Charlie Whelan, used to keep the collected writings of Stalin prominently on his bookshelf, "for a laugh". Obviously Whelan is far from being a Stalinist; but can you imagine if, say, Amanda Platell, William Hague's spin-doctor, had kept Mein Kampf prominently on display in her office? Some readers will find the comparison with Hitler offensive. In fact, Stalin was worse.