Commentators
Tom Greene: Stop demonising us for wanting good schools
Published: 15 January 2007
Shami Chakrabarti: Yet another step along a dangerous road
Published: 15 January 2007
Once upon a time, I thought that this Government was complacent about our personal privacy. Then I thought they were careless with it. Now, from those in power, I see nothing but contempt for that little bit of personal space and security that is so essential to our dignity, that makes us all human.
Rebecca Tyrrel: Days Like Those
Published: 15 January 2007
Lucy Caldwell: The story so far
Published: 15 January 2007
I wrote a story, once, about a twentysomething girl who, returning to Belfast for a holiday, gets caught up in a mass of cancelled flights and meets the love of her life, who turns out to be her older sister's childhood sweetheart. I couldn't believe the irony when, trying to get home for Christmas, I found myself stuck in the chaos of fog and grounded flights at Heathrow. But the only thing I travelled home with was a rotten cold to which, one by one, all of my family succumbed.
Charles Nevin: Doctors should try a bit of entertainment
Published: 15 January 2007
An important element of the columnist's work is the ability to take the temperature, make a diagnosis, and suggest the cure. And, since some of you might well be reading this in the surgery, I was wondering if you had noticed that the medical profession is suffering from a bout of what we journalists call "bad publicity".
Rebecca Tyrrel: Stuck in a traffic jam and I've got the carbon emission blues
Published: 14 January 2007
Joanna Briscoe: Confessions of a total bitch...
Published: 14 January 2007
Robert Brigham: Different war, same mistakes
Published: 14 January 2007
Alistair Beaton: A parable of the pitfalls of self-belief
Published: 14 January 2007
Katy Guest: Even pervy Ken couldn't invent Jade's mum
Published: 14 January 2007
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto: The accidental criminal
Published: 13 January 2007
Jemima Lewis: It's not his money that bothers me
Published: 13 January 2007
Richard Dowden: How mistakes of US's 1992 invasion are being repeated
Published: 13 January 2007
Force and farce characterised the last US invasion of Somalia. In the early hours of 9 December 1992, Navy Seals slipped ashore at Mogadishu airport. What nobody seems to have told them was that the beach and airport were held by a Pakistani UN battalion.
Richard Ingrams' Week: There is nothing like a double-barrelled dame
Published: 13 January 2007
"Greg's stock in Whitehall is very low." With this damning verdict, included in confidential BBC minutes made public yesterday, the board of governors refused to give Greg Dyke back his job as director-general. In the wake of the infamous Hutton report into the death of the government scientist David Kelly, Dyke made the mistake of offering the governors his resignation, having been assured, so he claims, that the offer would not be accepted. He subsequently blamed one particular governor, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, for betraying him, though she herself denies this.
Patrick Cockburn: 'Surge' reinforces fears that Americans will never leave
Published: 12 January 2007
The Iraqi government will be weakened by the US dispatching more troops to Iraq and may well be replaced by a more pro-American administration in Baghdad. The increase in American involvement in Iraq is also convincing Iraqis that the US occupation is going to be permanent. "Many people now think the Americans are never going to leave," said Ghassan Attiyah, the Iraqi political commentator.
Moazzam Begg: There is no justification for this hellhole
Published: 12 January 2007
Jeremy Laurance: A prescription for financial disaster
Published: 12 January 2007
Forty years ago, GPs cared for their own patients at all hours including nights and weekends - visiting them at home when they were too ill to go to the surgery. Many worked single-handed, were responsible for their patients 24 hours a day and shared cover out of hours with colleagues in neighbouring practices.
Karen Chouhan: She should be sacked for these political beliefs
Published: 12 January 2007
People should be in no doubt about the type of organisation we are talking about and the beliefs that Simone Clarke has chosen to support. The party is exploiting Clarke's membership in order to prettify their extreme right-wing politics.
The Third Leader: Going west
Published: 12 January 2007
Good old Becks. In the world of commerce, your product can gain a precious edge if it's attractive, fresh and instantly appealing; but, above all, it has to be reliable. And, in terms of producing publicity, no one can live with this player: once again, just when it seemed he might be flickering and faltering, the boy done good.
Patrick Cockburn: Man who now holds Iraq's future in his hands
Published: 11 January 2007
He is a strange figure to be targeted as the number one enemy of the US in Iraq. Four years ago, few had heard of the Shia nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr inside or outside Iraq. Even somebody as suspicious as Saddam Hussein, who murdered his father and two brothers, did not think he would play any role in the coming crisis.
Cooper Brown: He's Out There
Published: 11 January 2007
Tim Lott: 'We live in an age of static, and it follows us around everywhere. Space and silence disappear'
Published: 11 January 2007
The dazzling spectacle of the new Apple iPhone makes me want to hold it, stroke with it, play with it and bring it to life by my touch. If the terminology seems erotic, it is because there is no denying that the iPhone is sexy.
Rupert Cornwell: This is a gamble of massive effrontery to the voters, the politicians and even the generals
Published: 11 January 2007
Richard Dowden: Somalia will not forget this latest catastrophe
Published: 11 January 2007