Commentators
Jemima Lewis: The moral line in medicine shifts once again
Published: 06 January 2007
Richard Ingrams' Week: Who to support in a conflict between Muslims and gays?
Published: 06 January 2007
Catholics are traditionally described in the press as "devout". I can't remember ever reading anything about a devout Protestant. Nor can I explain why this should be so.
Patrick Cockburn: Perceptive analysis contrasts with rhetoric
Published: 05 January 2007
Ali A Allawi, until recently an Iraqi minister, is one of Iraq's most respected Shia politicians of the post-Saddam era. His study of the crisis in Iraq is by far the most perceptive analysis of the extent of the disaster in his country, and how it might best be resolved. It is in sharp contrast to the ill-thought-out maunderings of experts and officials devising fresh policies in the White House and Downing Street.
Agnes Fletcher: 'A medical solution to a social problem'
Published: 05 January 2007
The Third Leader: Big is beautiful
Published: 05 January 2007
Despite the usual grim toll of events, and the usual gloom retailers and doom wholesalers, 2007 is not shaping up entirely badly. Yesterday we had the delight of a teenage hero, the young sailor Mike Perham; today we have the equally unexpected turn-up of good news from Russia: 17-stone ballerinas.
Dennis Macshane: Here's to the union with Europe and Scotland
Published: 04 January 2007
Colin Blakemore: From a scientist's point of view, life is getting better
Published: 04 January 2007
Tim Hancock: A glimpse inside the sordid world of the execution chamber
Published: 04 January 2007
Saddam Hussein's rule of Iraq was synonymous with acts of abuse and cruelty. Yet people have - quite understandably - been appalled by the footage of his execution, footage shot by mobile phone and contrasting sharply with the more sanitised official publicity. Our revulsion stemmed less from sympathy with Saddam than from the degradation of capital punishment. These pictures were of a man being killed in the name of justice - but with justice turned into a circus.
Catherine Townsend: Sleeping Around
Published: 04 January 2007
I was on a packed flight from my dad's house in the States back to London when a hugely corpulent man claiming to be a famous musician sat down next to me and launched into X-rated tales of his various girlfriends. I tried everything to deter him, from burying my head in a magazine to feigning sleep, but he rambled on - as undeterred by my overt hostility as he was by my headphones. So I felt I had no alternative but to smile politely and give monosyllabic replies. "You are so hot," he said, pressing a crumpled business card on to my tray table. "If you and this guy Paul ever have any sexual problems, I definitely want to hook up!"
Cooper Brown: He's Out There
Published: 04 January 2007
The Third Leader: Sailor boy
Published: 04 January 2007
New Year, New Hero. And, incredibly, it's a specimen of that most maligned, derided and despaired-of species, the teenage boy.
Simon Calder: Lower prices the way to make train take strain
Published: 03 January 2007
At 6.25 this morning, the first flight from Manchester to London, operated by the Belgian airline VLM, was due to depart. Some time after 8 tonight, the final BMI departure takes off from Manchester to Heathrow. And in between, a further 30 aircraft will take off from Manchester for the half-hour hop (air-traffic control permitting). Today, like every other working day, 32 flights will add to the crowded skies in each direction.
Arifa Akbar: My 'Malcolm X' moment at Mecca
Published: 03 January 2007
Rupert Cornwell: History has been kind to US presidents
Published: 03 January 2007
Claudia Winkleman: Take It From Me
Published: 03 January 2007
The Third Leader: Rough waters
Published: 03 January 2007
Ah, yes, the vexed matter of water, bottle versus tap. There is upon us, it seems, the start of a turn to tap: Government departments, encouraged by lobbying from such as Sustain, the environmental food and farming group, are beginning to say no to the bottle.
The Third Leader: The entertainer
Published: 02 January 2007
This may be an unpopular position to adopt, but some of us are going to miss him, you know. Of course we're aware of his disadvantages - he's got a bit of an obsession with abroad, for example, whether for holidays or invading - but you have only to clock his easy way with the bag containing his Fender Stratocaster to know this is a born entertainer.
David King: At last, I'm hopeful about climate change
Published: 01 January 2007
Hermione Eyre: The Morning After
Published: 01 January 2007
David Usborne: Our Man In New York
Published: 01 January 2007
Charles Nevin: My message of hope for the new year
Published: 01 January 2007
Might I also convey to you, no matter how you chose to spend last night, the traditional and increasingly hopeful wish of a happy new year? The more sensible, of course, will have ushered in 2007 by taking the chance to listen again to that interesting programme about Mozart and his contemporaries on Radio 3. Others may well now be regretting that they did not afford themselves of the opportunity.
Andrew Roberts: Evil like Stalin but a fool, too
Published: 31 December 2006
Patrick Cockburn: Iron man who proved to be a tin god
Published: 31 December 2006
Sarah Sands: As the Gibbs well know, there is no such thing as a free holiday
Published: 31 December 2006