Leading Articles
Leading article: Global warming and the need for all of us to act now to avoid catastrophe
Published: 03 December 2005
Leading article: The business of books
Published: 03 December 2005
Almost anything to do with books - but especially publishing and selling them - raises furious passions. We recall the epic battle over the Net Book Agreement before its eventual demise eight years ago. Cassandras, in the shape of small bookshops, forecast the end of books and book-selling as we knew them. In fact, the opposite happened.
Leading article: Britain and Europe must stand by their principles
Published: 02 December 2005
The British political establishment has been demonstrating a disgracefully equivocal attitude on the subject of torture for some time
Leading article: A teaching method that works
Published: 02 December 2005
Things have reached a pretty pass when something as basic and necessary as learning to read becomes politicised
Leading article: Preparing the ground for unpalatable measures
Published: 01 December 2005
The long anticipated report of Lord Turner of Ecchinswell's Pensions Commission contained no great surprises
Leading article: The beginning of the end
Published: 01 December 2005
Mr Bush's speech on Iraq yesterday was entirely for domestic consumption, an attempt to convince an American public that has plainly turned against the war, that his administration has a strategy to win it
Leading article: Some light is thrown on a shadowy and malign force
Published: 30 November 2005
Colin Powell may have vanished from the scene; not so Lawrence Wilkerson. The man who was chief of staff to the former Secretary of State has now become the most vocal critic of Iraq policy from within the US administration.
Leading article: Drive this idea forward - and fast
Published: 30 November 2005
Anyone who has used Britain's motorways in recent years, or spent time in a city centre at rush hour, will know that traffic congestion is a growing problem in this country
Leading article: This costly, dangerous and expensive distraction
Published: 29 November 2005
It is quite understandable that the expansion of nuclear power has once again become a subject of debate in this country. Few now doubt the seriousness of the threat posed by global warming. And it is increasingly clear that unless we develop alternatives to fossil fuels the situation will continue to deteriorate. In these circumstances, it is no surprise that some are urging the Government to commission a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Leading article: A question worth asking
Published: 29 November 2005
There have long been two questions hanging over the tragic killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician shot dead by police on the day after the attempted London bombings. The first was the obvious one: how could it have come about that an innocent man was mistaken for a terrorist and shot at point-blank range on the London Underground. The Independent Police Complaints Commission announced a formal investigation into the shooting soon afterwards, as it is required to do.
Leading article: Mr Putin has been given far too easy a ride
Published: 28 November 2005
The people of Chechnya voted yesterday for a regional parliament - at least some of them did. The official turnout was just short of 60 per cent; but Western reporters and opposition figures dispute this. The OSCE was not on hand to authenticate the process or otherwise. It had declined to send observers, partly on security grounds; partly, perhaps, so as not to lend credibility to a process that was so thoroughly flawed.
Leading article: The real cost of conservation
Published: 28 November 2005
A group of developing countries will submit an innovative proposal to the UN conference on climate change when it opens in Montreal today. Led by Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea, they will ask rich countries to pay them not to destroy their rain forests.
Leading article: False impressions
Published: 28 November 2005
Senior Tories, past and present, are tying themselves in knots over Jeffrey Archer's efforts to rejoin the party. Central Office first denied that he was back in the party, then confirmed that he had submitted an application. Michael Howard said that it would be up to his successor to decide what to do about it, while David Cameron, the man most likely to succeed him, said that, even if Lord Archer did rejoin, he - Cameron - would not allow him to retake the whip.
Leading article: Curiouser and curiouser
Published: 27 November 2005
The Government has precious little credibility on matters of national security, official secrecy and the conduct of the occupation of Iraq. Little wonder, then, that so few are willing to give the Attorney General the benefit of the doubt in his decision to prosecute two people under the Official Secrets Act
Leading article: Pubs stay open late. Not many hurt
Published: 27 November 2005
The purveyors of moral panic told us that the first two days of 24-hour drinking would be the policing equivalent of the Somme. It was no such thing
Leading article: The superstar who leaves a legend - and a harsh lesson - behind him
Published: 26 November 2005
With his extravagance, his indulgence, his addictions, his gambling, his womanising and his booze, George Best was an Icarus for our times
Leading article: When harmony strikes false note
Published: 26 November 2005
The Queen and Tony Blair may leave Malta relieved to have been spared conflict. If so, it will be for all the wrong reasons
Leading article: Ask a sensible question...
Published: 26 November 2005
It's cheering news that Does Anything Eat Wasps?, a collection of readers' questions answered over the years by New Scientist magazine, is becoming this Christmas's surprise literary hit.
Leading article: Business and government still need each other
Published: 25 November 2005
Is British business falling out of love with New Labour? We only ask because the chairman of the CBI, Sir Digby Jones, has warned that the Government risks losing its business-friendly credentials. And while Sir Digby may have many reasons for firing this shot across the Government's bows now, it is still a pretty striking statement to make.
Leading article: Crisis management
Published: 25 November 2005
There was a great deal wrong with the way the Foreign Office responded to the Indian Ocean tsunami last Boxing Day. A report issued yesterday revealed that emergency hotlines were overwhelmed, there was a shortage of medical staff, and a rapid response team was sent to Sri Lanka when the need was greater in Thailand. In Bangkok, e-mails went unopened in the first 24 hours, leaving a plea for help from Britons in the Khao Lak area unanswered for three days. This was distressing for those caught up in the disaster and for their families. The response should have been much quicker and better.
Leading article: Prepare for white-out
Published: 25 November 2005
Goodness me. Not since 1940, or possibly, 1805, or maybe, 1588, or even, perhaps, 55BC, have our skies been studied quite so intently, our weather conditions so frantically analysed. Is it here yet? Have you descended into the white hell of the coldest winter since when?
Leading article: Fugitives from justice and the flawed logic of this amnesty
Published: 24 November 2005
War is a hateful, messy business causing much grief and pain. So too, is its aftermath and the business of clearing up in its wake, as the Commons illustrated yesterday when considering the question of IRA fugitives
Leading article: Cack-handed, but correct
Published: 24 November 2005
The ban on fat people having hip and knee surgery imposed by Ipswich Primary Care Trust this week is right for the wrong reasons. The directors of the trust have highlighted an essential truth about the NHS, but they have done so in a way that was cack-handed, ill-judged and insensitive
Leading article: At midnight, we can drink to a more liberal regime
Published: 23 November 2005
Tomorrow is the long-anticipated D-day: D, that is, for drinking. Once midnight has struck, it will be legal for premises with the appropriate licence to sell alcoholic drinks to paying customers around the clock
Leading article: A vote about more than a constitution
Published: 23 November 2005
Do not make the mistake of taking yesterday's referendum in Kenya at face value. On the surface it was about proposals for a new constitution, which has been unchanged since British colonial powers pulled out
