Leading Articles
Leading article: A for achievement
Published: 20 August 2006
Every year, it is the same story. Record numbers of students pass their A-levels; record numbers gain A-grades; record numbers of traditionalists complain about falling standards
Leading article: A nation running to fat
Published: 20 August 2006
The rate of increase in obesity in this country is too fast to be ignored. The official figures to be published this week, which we report today, reveal a pace of change that has serious consequences for the health of the nation
Leading article: Farewell, the silly season
Published: 20 August 2006
It is with much regret that we record the death of that innocently old-fashioned British institution, the Silly Season.
Leading article: France must honour its pledges
Published: 19 August 2006
When France and the United States finalised the draft document that was to become UN Security Council resolution 1701, the agreement contained an unspoken deal. According to this, France would supply as many as 3,500 of the 15,000 blue-helmeted peacekeepers to be stationed in southern Lebanon; it would also stand ready to command the force.
Leading article: Wish you were here
Published: 19 August 2006
What lies behind the hefty rise in the number of us who jet off on foreign holidays each year is no secret. It is cheaper than it used to be. The rise of the budget airlines has made it cheaper to fly from Luton to Budapest than it is to take the train from London to Birmingham. All this has revolutionised our attitude to holidays.
Leading article: The true face of immigration
Published: 19 August 2006
We are repeatedly told that when Romania joins the EU next year, Britain will be swamped by undesirables. Do they have people like 18-year-old Alma Dimitriu in mind? Ms Dimitriu arrived four years ago from Romania speaking little English. This week she was awarded three A grades and will study medicine at St Andrews University.
Leading article: A refreshing antidote to the spin culture
Published: 18 August 2006
Trust John Prescott. Comprehensively sidelined through the high-summer terrorist alert by the Home Secretary, the Deputy Prime Minister has come striding back into the limelight in his own inimitable way
Leading article: Congratulations, but reform is needed
Published: 18 August 2006
Most of the quarter of a million students who picked up their A-level results yesterday will have worked hard for their grades
Leading article: The difficulty of riding two horses at the same time
Published: 17 August 2006
As a former head of communications in the corporate world, David Cameron is well practised in the finer points of presentation and timing
Leading article: A tough case, but justice is done
Published: 17 August 2006
After decades of campaigning, the families of the men who were shot at dawn on the Western Front are finally in sight of their goal
Leading article: New offences, created for the same old reasons
Published: 16 August 2006
This newspaper has long been a critic of New Labour's habit of coming up with new legislation at the drop of a hat. But only now is the true scale of the Government's frenzied lawmaking over the past nine years becoming clear
Leading article: Heading off in the wrong direction
Published: 16 August 2006
The long delays and personal searches that have been in effect in British airports since a terror plot aimed at airliners was revealed last week have been met with impressive stoicism by most travellers
Leading article: Business, too, can encourage the Faradays of the future
Published: 15 August 2006
The week in which A-level results arrive is ushered in with a barrage of criticism from universities and employers about the generally unacceptable literacy and numeracy levels of school leavers. This year, the critics have concentrated their fire on science-teaching.
Leading article: Lessons from Gaza, one year on
Published: 15 August 2006
The first anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza is approaching. But this is unlikely to be a cause for celebration among either Israelis or Palestinians. Withdrawal does not appear to have benefited the people of Gaza, nor liberated Israel from its burden of occupation.
Leading article: More phlegm and less hyperbole, please
Published: 14 August 2006
The last thing that really alarming news needs is an alarmist response. The British population is disturbed enough to hear that Islamist fanatics are hatching a plot to blow up nine transatlantic aircraft. What it does not need is to add to that a lot of hype - of the type much in evidence at the weekend - about "campus terrorists" and "moral blackmail".
Leading article: Beware the advice of exiles
Published: 14 August 2006
It was Fidel Castro's 80th birthday yesterday. There was a cake for him from his staunch ally Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, but there were no obvious congratulations from the White House.
Leading article: The going gets tougher
Published: 14 August 2006
Australia? Teee-dee-yus. One in eight of the school-leavers who get their results on Thursday will be taking a gap-year. But where two or three years ago they would have headed Down Under, to Oz or New Zealand, the new destination of choice is the not-so-dark continent. Forget Thailand. So yesterday. South Africa and Tanzania are the top destinations.
Leading article: The phoney war and the real fight with fanatics
Published: 13 August 2006
It may not be much consolation to the thousands of Britons who are beginning their holidays with interminable waits at airports or phoning from home to learn whether their flights will ever depart, but they are playing an important part in the campaign against terrorism
Leading article: Proof of alienation close to home
Published: 12 August 2006
Leading article: Israel's bitter harvest in Lebanon
Published: 12 August 2006
Israel's military operation to date has been in very many respects a failure. In humanitarian and public relations terms, it has been a disaster.
Leading article: Off the ball
Published: 12 August 2006
And so a tumultuous era of leadership comes to an end. His stewardship of a nation has ended in less than glorious - some would say humiliating - circumstances. It was not supposed to be this way, of course. In the early years he enjoyed immense popularity, but the national love affair soured. Many thought he should have gone some time ago. And a question mark now hangs over his legacy.
Leading article: Intelligence, security and the need to know more
Published: 11 August 2006
National security is not something to be toyed with. Nor is the safety of airline passengers, or - for that matter - any other members of the public
Leading article: When the internet is a mixed blessing
Published: 11 August 2006
The internet has transformed the relationship between patients and their doctors. By transferring knowledge from the latter to the former, it has allowed patients to become experts in their illnesses
Leading article: A defeat that transforms the electoral landscape
Published: 10 August 2006
The defeat of Joe Lieberman in his bid to be re-elected Senator for the state of Connecticut marks a turning point in US politics of the post-9/11 era
Leading article: Belatedly, justice is done
Published: 10 August 2006
The stabbing of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor on a Peckham housing estate six years ago is one of those crimes that has defined the consciousness of modern Britain
NEW: Indy jobs online
NEW: Indy 100 prices
FREE: Travel podcasts
SAVE: Travel offers
FREE: Email headlines
Portfolio packages
IoS poll: Is it appropriate to pardon WW1 soldiers shot for cowardice?