Leading Articles
Leading article: We are failing our children - and risking our future
Published: 12 October 2007
The year 2007 has offered little consolation for anyone concerned about the state of childhood and education in Britain
Leading article: The burden of history
Published: 12 October 2007
A perfect diplomatic storm is brewing in Turkey. This week a Congressional committee in Washington voted in favour of a resolution describing the mass slaughter of Armenians by Turkey in 1915 as genocide. This has predictably gone down badly in Ankara
Leading article: Elderly people deserve a far better deal from the state
Published: 11 October 2007
It is not very clear what the Government is intending to do about funding long-term care for the elderly and disabled, which is shaping up to be one of the biggest political problems of the next decades
Leading article: The generals take their revenge
Published: 11 October 2007
The woman merely applauded for around 30 seconds as marching monks passed her home during the pro-democracy protests in Burma last month. Not long afterwards, Burmese intelligence agents scrutinising photographs and video footage to identify malcontents came across her image
Leading article: The Chancellor assumes the mantle of his predecessor
Published: 10 October 2007
After the raucous reception for the Chancellor from the Opposition benches, the eye-catching concession on inheritance tax, and the promises of higher spending on health and schools, it is tempting to wonder what yesterday's parliamentary occasion might have looked and sounded like without the events of the past two weeks
Leading article: The French connection
Published: 10 October 2007
There seems to be a new Atlanticist flavour to French foreign policy
Leading article: Authority cannot be rebuilt in a day
Published: 09 October 2007
As it was, Mr Brown failed to convince. He did not even offer the modicum of moral decency we had hoped for on the treatment of Iraqi interpreters and others who have thrown in their lot with British troops.
Leading article: The mouse that roared
Published: 09 October 2007
Next time you read about a potential medical breakthrough involving stem cells or gene therapy, remember that it might not have been possible without the work of individuals such as Sir Martin Evans and Professor Mario Capecchi, whose remarkable life story we outline today.
Leading article: A shambolic episode and a self-inflicted wound
Published: 08 October 2007
It is possible that Mr Brown will soon purge the memories of recent days. On the other hand, the economy might be weaker by the time the election is called and Mr Brown will not be able to offer novelty and change to the electorate after ruling as Prime Minister for more than a few months.
Leading article: Negligence and waste
Published: 08 October 2007
A huge amount of taxpayers' money has been poured into the NHS over the past seven years. But improvement in the service has been less than would have been expected. It is now clear that is partly because so much money has gone out to cover negligence payments and insurance, both of which could easily be avoided through improved clinical and managerial practice.
Leading article: Personal shopper
Published: 08 October 2007
A free market in retailing has been a benefit to Britons in many ways. It has brought down the price of goods. We can generally get what we want more conveniently. But it would be hard to argue that it has beautified our high streets. It is estimated that four out 10 of the nation's main shopping thoroughfares have been overwhelmed by the plastic fascias and bold logos of the chain stores. These vistas could belong to any number of towns.
Leading article: Right decision, wrong reason
Published: 07 October 2007
Gordon Brown has come to the right decision, but apparently for the wrong reasons. Now is not the time for a general election
Leading article: Volatile voters, resurgent Tories and the decision to call an election
Published: 06 October 2007
Mr Brown himself is probably still undecided until he has weighed all the evidence this weekend and consulted his closest advisers. But after this week's Tory fight-back one thing is for sure: Mr Brown would be quite foolish to underestimate Mr Cameron.
Leading article: Ignominy in Afghanistan
Published: 06 October 2007
Six years ago, British troops went into Afghanistan in a fevered, and near universal, mood of support for the US in its time of trouble. Six years later, as Bill Clinton reminded us on a visit to London yesterday, that mood of fellow-feeling towards America has been largely squandered around the globe. What the ex-president could have added, but was too polite to, was that the same could be said of our standing as well.
Leading article: Lese-majesty
Published: 06 October 2007
Annoying Her Majesty the Queen still seems to be a very bad career move if yesterday's resignation of the BBC1 controller Peter Fincham is anything to go by. However, jettisoning one of its creative leaders feels like an overreaction. Mr Fincham's "crime" was to tell a press conference that a documentary showed footage of the monarch walking out of a photo shoot in a huff. What it in fact showed was the Queen walking into a photo shoot in a huff. It was an embarrassing mistake, but hardly on a par with the phone-in rip-off of viewers on other channels.
Leading Article: Inhumanity, hypocrisy, and a policy that shames Britain
Published: 05 October 2007
The Government's policy for removing asylum-seekers is under the spotlight as never before. We report today chilling allegations of brutality by immigration officers against deportees.
Leading Article: Save smokers from themselves
Published: 05 October 2007
Given the harm that smoking is known to do to people's health, why are smokers not offered something safer than tobacco? Something that would satisfy their craving for nicotine and in the process save some, even most, of the one billion lives that smoking is expected to cost globally this century?
Leading article: Mr Cameron issues his own electoral challenge
Published: 04 October 2007
David Cameron, it was being said as the party faithful gathered in Blackpool, would have to make the speech of his life if he was to retain his credibility as Conservative leader
Leading article: The sound of a revolution
Published: 04 October 2007
A revolution has been taking place in the commercial music industry
Leading article: This is no time to ease pressure on the generals
Published: 03 October 2007
Two weeks of sustained popular protest against one of the most repressive and vicious regimes on earth have alerted the world to the terrible suffering of the Burmese people
Leading article: Electioneering is the real agenda
Published: 03 October 2007
Scarcely had the cheers for the Shadow Chancellor and his proposed tax cuts subsided in Blackpool than the Prime Minister flew into Iraq to announce that 1,000 British troops would be home in time for Christmas
Leading article: Colour of money
Published: 03 October 2007
A television career in green property makeovers clearly beckons for Aaron and Raphaella Curtis. Unable, several years ago, to afford a home in Lewes for their seven-strong family, the Curtises built their own.
Leading article: Populist and eye-catching, but beset by vagueness
Published: 02 October 2007
Despite the calls from Blackpool for Gordon Brown to "bring it on" , it is painfully obvious that the goal of the Tory leadership over the next few days of the Conservative conference will be to stave off an autumn general election.
Leading article: Only a first step to peace
Published: 02 October 2007
It would be easy to be cynical about Israel's release of 57 Palestinian prisoners yesterday in an attempt to bolster the authority of the man they see as the moderate Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas. The number released is fewer than the average number of Arab militants detained by Israeli forces each month, joining 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails, many imprisoned without trial.
Leading article: Work in progress
Published: 02 October 2007
It looks like a classic bubble. As we report today, contemporary art prices have risen by 50 per cent in a single year. And some feel that this is a bubble that is about to burst. Should we be concerned?
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