When it comes to saving the planet, lefties and greens love to talk about sustainability. But bring up sustainable population, says Eamonn Dwyer, and they rely on discredited arguments from their free-market nemeses.

By Laurie Penny

Radical politics, like romance, inevitably disappoints. It has become a cliché that liberal infighting gets in the way of liberal action, but this week has been a flashpoint for the British left, struggling to organise itself in the face of an upcoming election which may well bring greater gains for its enemies on the right and the far-right than the country has seen for a generation.

By Stephanie King

The name of Gorillaz’ forthcoming album Plastic Beach provides clues to what Stylo has to offer – a sci-fi hybrid of the synthetic, the contaminated, the superficial and the beautiful. It’s got the sort of smooth, mid-tempo electro-groove that brings to mind car adverts and shopping centres; slick, mechanised and hygienically inhuman. It’s precisely the kind of uber-cool detached pop you’d expect a cartoon band to make.

By Chaminda Jayanetti

Every Saturday, on one of the main roads leading off London’s famous Trafalgar Square, locals and tourists briefly stop to watch a group of protesters singing, dancing and chanting outside the Zimbabwean Embassy. This is the Zimbabwe Vigil coalition, which has been holding demonstrations against President Robert Mugabe’s brutal dictatorship since October 2002.

By Laurie Penny

I have a confession to make – I am indifferent to chocolate in all its forms. This makes me aberrant as a female, because everyone knows it’s been scientifically proven that all women love chocolate. The presence or promise of chocolate makes us go gooey inside – we melt, simper and attempt to fellate small sticks of foil-wrapped refined carbohydrate while a slurpy jazz soundtrack drones in the background.

By Dr Nafeez Ahmed

Former assistant director of FBI’s counter-terrorism division Dale Watson; former Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf; current Pakistani President Asif Zardari; Afghan President Hamid Karzai; the late Benazir Bhutto; Israeli intelligence sources; Pakistani and Afghan sources, including Taliban leaders – all have reported Osama bin Laden to be “probably dead” since December 2001.