They call it "contagious shooting". One cop fires. Then the others, believing the shooting is itself evidence of a threat, follow suit. The bullets start flying in rapid succession.

Simultaneously, the Iraqis are no longer able to live under occupation as they have been doing. According to a UN report released last week, 3,709 Iraqi civilians died in October - the highest number since the invasion began. And the cycle of religious and ethnic violence has escalated over the past week.

The Republicans had yet to concede Virginia and there were around a dozen House races still too close to call when

Among the near misses in recent social history the Brooklyn Turkey riots of 2004 should be right up there. It was the day before Thanksgiving and the local Turkey emporium Jive Turkey had designed an elaborate system for collection before the big day.

Such is the parlous state of racial conversation in Britain at present that any discussion which does not ignore racism, mythologise Britishness, demonise muslims or elevate difference (racial, ethnic or religious) to a point of principle is sufficiently rare for its very existence to be welcomed. To that extent Race and Faith: a new agenda - the manifesto put forward by a collection of prominent and respected British writers and intellectuals - makes a positive contribution.

The last of the memorials was on Friday November 9. "I did feel in one way that one chapter of the sadness was over," he says.

Father Michael Geraghty thought things were winding down by early November 2001. The previous two months had been intensely traumatic for his parish in Belle Harbor, Queens. He had lost 12 of his flock in the September 11 attacks - six were working in the twin towers, another six were firefighters who had gone in to try to save them. "In our particular parish we were having masses and memorials constantly at that time," Geraghty says. "It was a difficult process following the World Trade Centre because families had to begin grieving without knowing for sure if their loved ones were dead - identifying the missing took so long."

Gary Younge sits in a restaurant in Denver, Colorado as America goes to the polls. Photograph: Dan ChungAmericans love democracy. Ask any American from any state whether these elections matter and they will tell you yes.

Bush makes a statement on Saddam.Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/GettyThey call it the October surprise - that unexpected last-minute event that can change the course of a November American election. Ever since Nixon convinced the South Vietnamese to pull out of negotiations in the dying moments of the 1968 presidential election, pundits have acknowledged the October surprise as the X factor that could throw their predictions off course.

Liberals in America no longer make predictions. Indeed it is all they can do to hope. Instead they watch these midterms like children watching a horror movie - peeking through open fingers with their hands half-covering their eyes.

Did John Kerry trash the troops or is George Bush stupid? As the month that saw the highest level of US casualties in Iraq for almost two years drew to a close, such was the level of debate among the American political class.