(As anyone who follows the obituaries - and who can afford not to in this business - knows, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was found dead recently, of an apperant illness arising out of drug or alcohol use. There is some speculation that his death was related to a long standing North/South feud between the Germans and Italians, whose sometimes violent bad blood has been so much in the news - see the side bar "Why Mozart was Murdered". But it will be years - if ever - before this is sorted out. It is disheartening to loose so many musicians so young, or to have so many of the hotest singers retire by 25. But that is the way it will always be in music.

While we at Trolling Stoned had been very hard on him through out his career as child star and front man for the Mozart family group, before his untimely end he had left the major contract and gone independent, put his life together and was brimming with new projects. We thought it appropriate to reprint this WAM's last interview with Trolling Stoned, just after the opening of his new musical to rave reviews and packed houses in Prague.)

Thesis: this election, in the media, is about Bush versus Bush-lite. Proof? the conventional wisdom that Osama helps Bush.

Thesis: Bush has narrowly convinced the standing electorate to vote for him, but is wildly unpopular. Proof? Questions on turn out and polls showing low approval numbers.

Remember how much intense debate there was about the coming recession back in the 2000 election? Nor does anyone else.

This year, remember the intense debate about the state of the credibility of the financial markets. FT doesn't remember either.

The failure of the Iraq policy of George Bush Sr. - as he inflicted it on Clinton - and the failure of the entire theory of it, is mainly responsible for the collapse towards war in Iraq.

Here is what is going on. And how it ate the Presidential election.