: In addition, while the Covenant may be deficient in AI technology, Cortana
: noted that their AI replication program was more advanced than what the
: UNSC had, flaws and all.

What's your source for the last bit (First Strike?) I'm doing my reread of all the Halo novels again, but I wanna' be sure to look out for it.

We've had lots of stories where the plot hinges around preventing the ship's AI from being grabbed, but as far as I know never had an exact idea of what they did with them beyond milk them for information. Presumably if there were strike teams like "Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian", we might just never have heard about these AIs getting stolen. The "identity" of the AIs on Truth and Reconciliation and Ascendant Justice would be interesting questions to finally get answered, or perhaps they're best left to fan theories.

: -What does it say about me that I heard "Bullshit" when someone
: said "Bushido"?

When Dani's involved, expecting profanity isn't surprising :)

: -While Mal's British origins were played up in Moral Dictata, this was the
: first book where I could consistently keep Vaz and Mal's characters
: straight.

As I sort of alluded to in the podcast (but didn't really go into detail with), to me the cast of the K5 trilogy was a bit too diffuse. Mal and Vaz have to exist because of their interpersonal relationships, but Dev definitely was ultimately pretty worthless. I definitely agree that differentiating the characters was an issue—while I got there sooner than you I really didn't get any impression from the ODSTs at all through Glasslands.

: -I wonder how many people outside of Britain caught the Maggie Thatcher
: parallels with Margaret Parangosky?

Which parallels are you referring to? I know of Thatcher, as I imagine most educated Americans do, but it's one thing to read about her policies and the response and another thing to have that be part of your own history. I can't say I know much about her individual beliefs and motives.