Leading Articles
Leading article: Personal privacy and the power of the State
Published: 15 January 2007
The Government has not given up its intention to find out more about us. This time, though, ministers are taking care to present the project as being more for our benefit and convenience than theirs
Leading article: Hopes and fears about M. Sarkozy
Published: 15 January 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy has achieved the first stage of his ambition to be France's next President by winning the nomination of his party, the centre-right UMP. The coming election campaign, however, will probably not be as straightforward in practice as it looks just now on paper.
Leading article: Not a fair exchange
Published: 15 January 2007
Cultural exchange between Britain and the United States has taken weird and wonderful forms over the years. We gave them slavery, they gave us rock 'n' roll; they gave us TS Eliot, we gave them Herman's Hermits.
Leading article: Brown's duty to the forces
Published: 14 January 2007
We are in a twilight period of politics, where Tony Blair makes the arguments but Gordon Brown makes the decisions. Recently, the Prime Minister made the argument for keeping open the option of renewing the Trident nuclear weapons programme, while the Chancellor nodded and agreed to honour the cheques.
Leading article: Don't gamble with addiction
Published: 14 January 2007
Governments should not try to prohibit gambling, just as they should not try to ban drinking or - and this newspaper took an unfashionably liberal view on this - smoking. But that does not mean that a free-for-all is a good idea, either.
Leading article: Trust to nature
Published: 14 January 2007
Warm for the time of year, isn't it? The traditional cheery question now triggers a chill of apprehension. Global warming is happening, even if it may not be directly responsible for the wild daffodils in Cornwall.
Leading article: A mendacious attack by Mr Blair
Published: 13 January 2007
Leading article: Golden years, golden awards
Published: 13 January 2007
Successful film actresses have long complained that when they hit their fifth decade the offers of work tend to dry up. Just when they are reaching the peak of their talents it seems there are no good roles available. The reasons are easy to guess. The male-dominated Hollywood studio system is likely to be a major factor.
Leading article: There's more to life ...
Published: 13 January 2007
Is something extraordinary happening in the business world? Andrew Harvey, the chief executive of Britain's biggest insurance firm, Aviva, is stepping down to devote himself to charity work in Africa. Richard Dixey, the boss of the pharmaceutical company Phytopharm, is leaving to "spend more time being a Buddhist".
Leading article: Mr Bush's masterplan: to spread the blame
Published: 12 January 2007
It was a chastened US president who addressed his fellow countrymen on Iraq on Wednesday, a president who accepted responsibility for mistakes made, called the situation "unacceptable" and ordered an about-turn
Leading article: An unhealthy way to operate
Published: 12 January 2007
General practitioners now rank among our most well-rewarded public servants. As we report today, the average earnings of Britain's GPs has soared to £118,000
Leading article: A failure that has been concealed for too long
Published: 11 January 2007
The antipathy in some sections of the Labour Party to private education is clearly as strong as ever
Leading article: Five years of injustice and shame
Published: 11 January 2007
Vigils and demonstrations are being held around the world to mark the fifth anniversary of the first transfers of prisoners to the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay
Leading article: One last, desperate, throw of the dice
Published: 10 January 2007
At any other time in the past six years, the nationwide television address that President George Bush is to make tonight might justifiably have been described as make-or-break
Leading article: An incentive to diversify
Published: 10 January 2007
The winter oil crisis between Russia and Belarus seems to be approaching a resolution. A delegation from Minsk has been dispatched to Moscow
Leading article: A situation fraught with confusion and tension
Published: 09 January 2007
The last months of Tony Blair's time in office as Prime Minister were always going to be an uncertain time in British politics. Quite how uncertain is now becoming awkwardly apparent.
Leading article: A welcome rethink on testing
Published: 09 January 2007
The Education Secretary, Alan Johnson, deserves some credit for yesterday's blueprint for reforming national curriculum testing. It is the first serious attempt to get to grips with the problems that the current testing and league table regime has produced.
Leading article: Israel should give diplomacy more time to work
Published: 08 January 2007
As sure as night follows day, the West is being led into a military confrontation with Iran with imponderable, but certainly terrifying, consequences. The cycle of leak followed by denial should fool no one. The Israelis are the source of both.
Leading article: A matter of choice
Published: 08 January 2007
No prizes for guessing why David Miliband should have decided to deliver some pretty waspish remarks about the organic food industry. As minister for food, among other things, Mr Miliband is playing to the gallery.
Leading article: Cartoon character
Published: 08 January 2007
Oh Lord, Tigger has hit someone! A child, no less. Strange how life in all its grittyness has a habit of breaking into our artfully-created dream worlds, of which Disney World is a classic example.
Leading article: The oil rush
Published: 07 January 2007
"The oil can is mightier than the sword," said the 19th-century US Senator Everett Dirksen. Nowhere does this seem more true than in contemporary Iraq where, despite widespread despair about the war's costs, US corporations look set to be some of the conflict's few winners
Leading article: Bush's reshuffle prepares the way for a sharp change of course in Iraq
Published: 06 January 2007
Leading article: A minister's hot air about cheap flights
Published: 06 January 2007
Michael O'Leary, the brash boss of the low-cost airline Ryanair, is not perhaps the man to turn to for judgements on the environment. His response to the landmark Stern review was, after all, that it was "a report by an idiot economist". But it was disingenuous of the environment minister Ian Pearson to brand Mr O'Leary "the irresponsible face of capitalism" for refusing to take climate change seriously.
Leading article: Lessons from the whitewash
Published: 06 January 2007
The 5-0 Ashes whitewash in Australia has been met with a trademark forward defensive shot from cricket's administrators in the shape of a " comprehensive and wide-ranging" review. If only England's batsmen had defended with such alacrity, there would not be any need for such a review.
Leading article: A historic bargain is still in prospect
Published: 05 January 2007
Tony Blair's decision to forsake the blue skies of Miami for the swirling grey mists of the Irish peace process can be seen as an effort to head off a looming problem rather than an admission of full-blown crisis
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