Commentators
Jemima Lewis: We didn't do lap-dancing in my student days
Published: 17 February 2007
Richard Ingrams' Week: A typical toff in ruthless pursuit of the prizes
Published: 17 February 2007
Image-conscious "dude" is how the Wall Street Journal has described David Cameron following the revelations about his pot-smoking at Eton. Far from damaging his image, the journal says, the story makes Cameron look "sexier and more daring" than his rival, Gordon Brown.
Richard Garner: Teaching begins at home, not at school
Published: 16 February 2007
The success of pupils of Chinese origin in last year's national curriculum tests and GCSEs is to be applauded. Coupled with the showing by pupils of Indian origin, it shows that where there is a culture of learning in the home - as, by and large, there is in these two communities - the child flourishes at school.
The Third Leader: Munch bunch
Published: 16 February 2007
Even those with only a sustaining interest in food will have noticed how dominant a theme it is in our daily discourse, with an unending examination of the various properties of the various bits of it, from how it tastes to whether it is more likely to kill you or keep you alive, and whether it is necessarily a good idea to keep it crammed into enormous barns in Norfolk.
Patrick Moore: Nuclear energy? Yes please...
Published: 15 February 2007
Catherine Townsend: Sleeping Around
Published: 15 February 2007
In hindsight, it probably wasn't such a great idea to pop Viagra at a house full of fit men mere days after my break-up. My adventure started when I attended a friend's party that I knew Paul would be attending. I was a nervous wreck. All the other guests were in couples, and the only thing I had my arm wrapped around was a bottle of Johnnie Walker. Then our host, who is in his fifties, started chatting to me about how Viagra can now be bought over the counter. He said that he takes it for "recreational purposes", because it makes him hard for hours.
Cooper Brown: He's Out There
Published: 15 February 2007
Julia Stephenson: The Green Goddess
Published: 15 February 2007
I've been following this newspaper's war against packaging with interest. I thought I was the only fanatical anti-rubbish Nazi in the country, but no. Judging by the scores of e-mails on the subject, there are other desperate souls boiling their heads with rage at the amount of pointless waste thrust upon us.
The Third Leader: Best of British
Published: 15 February 2007
As depressing news about this country seems to be increasing at the same rate as the road charge petition, I thought I should remind everyone that, in the words of many a distinguished journalistic predecessor, it's not all gloom.
Les Roberts: Iraq's death toll is far worse than our leaders admit
Published: 14 February 2007
Sue Palmer: How we forgot the art of child rearing
Published: 14 February 2007
While chatting recently with teachers in the Netherlands, I mentioned that many British children now start learning the 3Rs when they've just turned four. The women teachers' faces contorted with horror. "But that's cruel", they said. "They should be playing out in the sunshine." Their headteacher burst out laughing. "Over here on the mainland, we think you Anglo-Saxons are mad," he said.
The Third Leader: Love and romance
Published: 14 February 2007
Predictably, given the attributes of the age, this is the worst day of the year to be a romantic. He or she can have spent as many hours as he or she likes furrowing the brow, licking the pencil and attempting to find a rhyme for fluffywuffykins, but he or she will be fighting a hail of the usual jeers and cynicism and excess.
Gabrielle Rifkind: Want to ease tensions with Iran? Try talking
Published: 13 February 2007
Lucy Caldwell: The Story So Far...
Published: 13 February 2007
The Third Leader: Tooled up
Published: 13 February 2007
Definition is notoriously tricky. My understanding, for example, that an activity is not a proper sport if it can be done while smoking a cigarette is under serious threat from the application by darts for inclusion at the London Olympics. And then there is the matter of homo sapiens being distinguished by the use of tools, now thoroughly discredited by such as the crow, the Egyptian vulture, the woodpecker finch, and, of course, the chimpanzee.
Rebecca Tyrrel: Days Like Those
Published: 12 February 2007
Dylan Jones: 'New York is still very old-school'
Published: 12 February 2007
The first time the receptionist at New York's Graceful Services had a call asking if they offered BlackBerry finger massage, she slammed the phone down. "She thought it was something dirty," says the owner, Grace Macnow. Now, like many places in the city, they charge 60 bucks an hour for the service. "BlackBerry Thumb", "Tech Neck", "Tech Hand" and "Cell-Phone Clog" are just some of the repetitive-stress "injuries" that are now catered for here, using acupressure, hot compresses and light-emitting diodes to kill bacteria, diffuse skin irritation and get rid of any unseemly activity in your ear. Obviously in Manhattan communication has never been quite so hazardous.
David Usborne: Our Man In New York
Published: 12 February 2007
Charles Nevin: Living in hope of a wee trickle down
Published: 12 February 2007
Excellent news about Boom Britannia, isn't it? I don't know which of the exciting figures makes me most proud, the £400m spent in art sales in a week, the £84m Hyde Park penthouses, the £29bn of company flotations, or the eight cocktails costing £100 a shot bought by Prince Harry in the course of a night out that is reported to have cost him £50 more than £11,000.
Noam Chomsky: The US says it is fighting for democracy - but is deaf to the cries of the Iraqis
Published: 11 February 2007
Alex Carlile: Terrorvision
Published: 11 February 2007
Lionel Shriver: Have you ever read a headline that praised a social worker?
Published: 11 February 2007
Sarah Sands: Sorry Fergie, but super career women can't be great mums
Published: 11 February 2007
The few great women in public life up until now have succeeded despite their sex. High office comes at a price; clearly, one cannot be a wholly attentive mother and have a consuming career. The Queen put public duty before maternal tenderness. Prince Charles's tribute to her on her 80th birthday was fond but his chief memories were of her long absences abroad. Margaret Thatcher's daughter Carol openly suffered from a preoccupied mother, while Mark was spoilt by maternal guilt. The two most self-assured female world leaders, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and Condoleezza Rice, the United States Secretary of State, significantly, have no children.
Lucy Cavendish: I am Lucy. I want to succeed as a novelist. I will do anything
Published: 11 February 2007
Rupert Cornwell: Out of America special
Published: 11 February 2007
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