Commentators
Frank Dobson: These 'reforms' will create a constitutional mess
Published: 07 March 2007
Tony Hall: Being certain about your money is vital to encourage artistic risk
Published: 07 March 2007
This government has in 10 years achieved a lot. Entrance to museums and galleries is now free, and attendance has risen sharply. More money has been invested in regional theatres: the result is a positive turnaround in the fortunes of regional theatre, with audiences up 8 per cent.
Claudia Winkleman: Take It From Me
Published: 07 March 2007
The Third Leader: Star for a night
Published: 07 March 2007
Dismay, we understand, over understudies in the West End. Mutterings in the stalls about star turn being replaced by non-star turning pages of the script. I sympathise. Who has not experienced the tutting groan of a sigh following the announcement that the part of someone in tonight's performance will be taken by someone else?
Michael Cockerell: Blair and his legacy
Published: 06 March 2007
Tom Porteous: The refugees fleeing Iraq are our responsibility
Published: 06 March 2007
The Third Leader: Graven comics
Published: 06 March 2007
These are monumental times in the world of statuary and sculpture. The daring theft of a naked shepherd, four sheep and more besides from Lord Archer's Grantchester garden was swiftly succeeded by the unveiling at the Commons of Lady Thatcher's statue, which, although clad, is possessed of a sternly pointing finger that has been disconcerting viewers ever since, even those with a clear conscience.
Steve Bloomfield: Caught in a geopolitical flashpoint
Published: 06 March 2007
The possibility of an al- Qa'ida attack on Western interests in countries neighbouring Somalia was feared by many last year as tensions between Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and Ethiopia increased.
Stephen Bayley: 'To buy it or drink it is to declare membership of a fashionable group'
Published: 06 March 2007
Absolut Vodka is one of the world's great brands, a brand being that combination of expectations and associations possessed by successful products. Significantly, the expectations of Absolut are rooted in the great Swedish design tradition, whose philosophy since 1917 has been based on the belief in "more beautiful everyday things".
Charles Nevin: We're too damned polite these days
Published: 05 March 2007
In a country beset by complaints about universally declining standards, let us at least give thanks for Brian Sewell. Others might have fallen away, or mellowed, but Brian remains as spectacularly rude as ever. Disapprove if you will, but to compare Dame Barbara Hepworth's oeuvre to Leerdammer cheese on a visit to her shrine town, St Ives, shows that the old boy's touch and ear are as sure and alive as ever to the exactly nuanced insult replete with contemporary resonance. Well done, Bri!
Dylan Jones: Mumbai, through the eyes of a cabbie
Published: 05 March 2007
d.jones@independent.co.uk
Rebecca Tyrrel: Days Like Those
Published: 05 March 2007
Jack Straw: If we don't start electing some Lords, the House will wither away
Published: 04 March 2007
Tim Lott: Of blood and burgundy
Published: 04 March 2007
A C Grayling: Good men in a mad, bad world
Published: 04 March 2007
Sarah Sands: Charlotte is everything a rugby player could ask for
Published: 04 March 2007
Charlotte Philby: My grandfather was Kim Philby and I'm proud of it
Published: 04 March 2007
Rupert Cornwell: Out of America
Published: 04 March 2007
Jemima Lewis: How a vengeful woman can inspire our pity
Published: 03 March 2007
Richard Ingrams' Week: Seen the face of Jesus? Must be a slow news day
Published: 03 March 2007
I remember my friend Derek Jameson, one-time editor of the Daily Express and News of the World, telling me that whenever he had a space to fill he would print a picture of a pizza or the worn sole of a shoe under the headline "Is this the face of Jesus?".
The Third Leader: Shakespeare in Diddyland
Published: 02 March 2007
Excellent news for the North of England, Shakespeare and the truth: the Bard's Lancashire connections could receive concrete (or, more accurately, wood and plaster) recognition with the reconstruction of the Prescot Playhouse, legendary setting for the earliest performances of his plays.
Sarah Duthie: If it won't listen to the world, will Japan hear its own people?
Published: 01 March 2007
Japan's whaling fleet finally left the waters of the Antarctic yesterday, marking the end of this year's hunt. Obviously, this is good news for whales for the time being. But it was not such good news for the Japanese whalers, especially as a fire on board cost one man his life. Yet even though the ships have left the Antarctic, the threat to whales is far from over.
Augustus Casely-Hayford: We need a wider debate about funding the arts
Published: 01 March 2007
Catherine Townsend: Sleeping Around
Published: 01 March 2007
My epiphany happened during a recent date, when I was discussing Indian politics with a sweet but dim model-cum-actor I'd met online. After a few minutes of talking about Kashmir, he turned to me politely and said, no word of a lie: "Wait, what do sweaters have to do with anything?"