Leading Articles
Leading article: Citizenship, schools and the imposition of national values
Published: 26 January 2007
How come such an ugly and ill-defined word as Britishness has come to occupy such a central place in ministerial thinking?
Leading article: An unwise appointment
Published: 26 January 2007
When Ruth Kelly was appointed Equalities minister last year it was always obvious that at some point her own private views would come into conflict with her public duties
Leading article: A display of contempt for Parliament and the public
Published: 25 January 2007
It says much about the Government's approach to the issue of Iraq that neither the Prime Minister nor the Leader of the Opposition chose to attend yesterday's Commons debate on Iraq
Leading article: Persistent offenders
Published: 25 January 2007
Across the country yesterday judges and magistrates received an urgent letter, jointly signed by the three most influential figures in our criminal justice system
Leading article: We must vote against waste with our wallets
Published: 24 January 2007
Our campaign against excessive packaging has certainly struck a chord. Some of the most egregiously over-packaged items you have drawn to our attention include memory cards and sweet potatoes.
Leading article: When the interests of child and church collide
Published: 24 January 2007
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has upped the stakes in the gay adoption row by writing personally to every Cabinet member, warning that the church could close its seven adoption agencies.
Leading article: A failing approach to a complex problem
Published: 23 January 2007
It ill-behoves anyone to dismiss anti-social behaviour as merely a minor irritant in modern Britain
Leading article: An election that solves little
Published: 23 January 2007
The Serbian election results offer disappointment and consolation in almost equal measure
Leading article: Join up... the campaign starts today
Published: 22 January 2007
Ask someone what they have done to help the environment lately and they will almost certainly cite "recycling more". Recycling in the home is certainly to be encouraged. But in one sense the act itself is an admission of failure. Being forced to recycle often means we have already acquired more material than we need.
Leading article: A clear case of intimidation
Published: 22 January 2007
It does seem doubtful that the arrest of Ruth Turner at dawn last Friday by the Metropolitan Police was strictly necessary; there can be fewer suspects less likely to abscond than a Downing Street aide. On the other hand, the Metropolitan Police, suspecting a perversion of the course of justice, claim they were merely following standard procedure for such cases.
Leading article: Lame ducks
Published: 22 January 2007
It may not have been as impressive as Lazarus's but it was nonetheless quite a comeback. A hunter in Florida shot a female ring-neck duck wounding it severely in the wing and leg. Believing it dead, he plonked it in his fridge in his home in Tallahassee.
Leading article: Oh Brother, where art thou?
Published: 21 January 2007
We are all ashamed now. This newspaper is certainly ashamed that Britain is a country in which the issues raised by an exploitative television show should so dominate the national conversation
Leading article: No exceptions, no exemptions
Published: 21 January 2007
The issue of gay adoption is one of the forward outposts of the struggle for equal rights in this country
Leading article: A public glimpse of private attitudes that should jolt us out of complacency
Published: 20 January 2007
Leading article: Some unpalatable medicine
Published: 20 January 2007
Our revelation last week that the average take-home pay of a family doctor is now considerably more than £100,000 a year has prompted quite a reaction. We have been inundated with correspondence from GPs defending their pay. Some make valid points. It is true, for instance, that most GPs are now more "productive" in several ways than they used to be.
Leading article: Homespun philosophy
Published: 20 January 2007
At the Gandhi memorial in Delhi this week, Gordon Brown announced: "I could never compare myself to Gandhi." But in true politicians' style, the Chancellor of the Exchequer then went on to do pretty much that.
Leading article: The BBC must adapt to changed circumstances
Published: 19 January 2007
It has been a disappointing few months for the BBC. In November came the surprise defection of Michael Grade, the corporation's chairman, to ITV. And now, three years of negotiations with the Government have resulted in a licence fee settlement substantially smaller than the BBC requested
Leading article: Haunted by Iraq
Published: 19 January 2007
When Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, laid into US foreign policy in an interview with the New Statesman magazine, he knew exactly what he was doing
Leading article: A saga of failure and grandiose follies
Published: 18 January 2007
An internal inquiry is looking into the fiasco at the Home Office over prisoner records, but we already know that at the root of this problem was a simple failure by the police to process information
Leading article: An unflattering mirror to our society
Published: 18 January 2007
Put a group of self-centred, egotistical, ignorant people in a confined space such as Channel 4's Big Brother household and it is not altogether surprising that something unpleasant emerges
Leading article: Israel and Syria: a deal that will have to be done
Published: 17 January 2007
The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is halfway through a trip to the Middle East, trying to drum up support for President Bush's new Iraq policy
Leading article: Image and reality
Published: 17 January 2007
British Petroleum and its chief executive, Lord Browne of Madingley, have long enjoyed a favourable image here in Britain
Leading article: Take a close look at the produce on offer
Published: 16 January 2007
Have the executives of these retailers, after years of indifference, suddenly become green activists? Up to a point. The M&S plan is projected to cost £200m over five years. That is less than 0.5 per cent of its annual turnover.
Leading article: Misfits, bigots and malcontents
Published: 16 January 2007
The accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union has brought about one unfortunate consequence. The entrance of six reactionary Romanian and Bulgarian representatives to the European Parliament means that the far-right parties of the continent now control enough seats to form a recognised political group.
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
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