The Comment Channel
Leading article: An initiative that betrays more central patronage
An excessively centralised approach to administration of all varieties was one of the least satisfactory features of the previous government
Leading article: Bitter but necessary medicine
There was a sense of the Bank of England bowing to the inevitable yesterday when it raised interest rates to 5.75 per cent
- Patrick Cockburn: Smokescreen for the war blown away
- Charles Glass: The life of a hostage: terrifying, unjust and expendable
- Lucy Beresford: Hostages suppress their emotions to mask inner turmoil
- Peter Inson: Lower the school leaving age, don't raise it
- Cooper Brown: He's Out There
- Catherine Townsend: Sleeping Around
- The Third Leader: Italianissimo
- Kim Sengupta: The mystery of how the best-laid plans could end in panic and failure
- Dominic Lawson: From Pentecost island to modern Britain, the futility of trying to measure happiness
- The Sketch: If you want nothing done, then Harriet is perfect
- Terence Blacker: Music is more than a business, it's the beat of life
- Tracey Emin: My Life In A Column
- Joan Bakewell: Hitting children simply tells them that might is right