No doubt it should be viewed as inspiring - the human race pushing out its boundaries.

So why is it hard not to feel depressed by what now seems to be the imminent colonisation of the Moon?

For the last decade or so we have left our neighbouring satellite to its own devices - beaming down on us in solitary splendour. But US President George Bush has now set Nasa on a mission to return to the Moon, with the aim of using it as a launching point for journeys deeper into space.

Scientists have already identified a suitable Moon location - a sheltered crater where the sun always shines. This means that solar power can be harnessed alongside the low gravity which is the Moon's principal attraction as a base for space travel. Mr Bush wants robotic Moon probes by 2008, followed by a human mission "with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods''.

Whether this new human frontier would be "for all mankind'' like the first Moon landing back in 1969 is unclear. But the militarization of space with spy satellites, not to mention the weaponry of President Bush's Star Wars' programme, does not augur well for a common, peaceable endeavour in space. Most likely the US sees its space programme as an interstellar version of How The West Was Won.

More immediate is the form our occupation of the Moon will take. Mr Bush speaks of the Moon possibly yielding raw materials that could be turned into fuel or air. So the Moon will be mined.

The materials must be tested and processed - tasks that the scientists say will be done in "laboratories and manufacturing plants''. The workers must sleep somewhere and have opportunities to relax. Hence, "hotels and sports arenas'' are also on Nasa's tentative agenda.

No wonder the Man in the Moon wears such a shocked look. He must have known for aeons what was coming to him.

The first Moon landing prompted the poet Roger McGough to anticipate "the night they turned the Moon into a Coca-Cola sign''. But there could be strong competition. Look up tonight. The Moon could already be sprouting two golden arches.

How can you tell that the Tory Party has lost touch even with its core supporters? In its party-political broadcasts it plays background music against speech, even when its leader is talking. Infuriating to millions across party lines, background music probably finds its strongest opposition among the elderly of Middle England, who form the backbone of Tory support.

I notice that Tony Blair now walks like George Bush - chest thrust out, arms outswinging like a gunfighter. Some will take this as proof that Mr Blair is now the complete Bush clone. But since Gordon Brown now also walks that way, I wonder if we are witnessing the effect of wearing a bullet-proof vest?

General election looming - so the column must show political balance, mustn't it? Actually no. But let's have it anyway, with a paragraph on Charles Kennedy. Rightly, his fluff over the Lib-Dems tax proposals seems to have left him unharmed. Far better a politician who shows he doesn't know the answer to a question than one who speaks at length without giving an answer.