In March 1959, the world had heard only a few rumours of trouble in Tibet, after the Chinese closed the borders with India and Bhutan but the Indian government was being informed by its diplomats in Lhasa.

Armoured troop carriers and tour buses packed with police roll along the winding mountain roads. Internet service is dead in some places. Military camps fortified with sandbags sit amid Tibetan communities, where strings of prayer flags flutter in the wind.

Charles Darwin has been accused of many things – but never before of being a closet Tibetan Buddhist.

Since his seminal work with Public Image Limited some 30 years ago, no other bass player has left so recognisable a sonic footprint on their work than Mr Wobble.

Taking place on the 4th-11th day of the first Tibetan Lunar month, Monlam, the Great Prayer Festival, is one of the most important festivals in Tibetan Buddhism. Pictures of this year's festival display the spectacular processions and colourful outfits of Tibet's Buddhist monks.

Five demonstrators were arrested during scuffles with police outside the Chinese embassy in London yesterday as they called for freedom for Tibet. It was one of several protests planned during the visit of China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who arrived in London on Saturday as part of a European tour aimed at improving trade between Europe and China and finding a way out of the global financial crisis.

Pro-Tibetan protesters scuffled with police today as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived at the Chinese Embassy in London.

It is easy to call on the world's freedom movements to seek the path of negotiation over the way of violence. But what happens if it gets you nowhere? That was the bleak question asked by Tibetan exiles at a meeting in Dharmsala in India that ended at the weekend.

Tibetan exiles have shied away from pursuing total independence from China and agreed to back the non-violent "Middle Way" policy of the Dalai Lama.

Earlier this week, I wrote a story about the Dalai Lama's growing impatience with the Chinese authorities in regard to his efforts to secure autonomy for Tibet.