Commentators
Nick Clegg: We are providing ammunition for terrorists
Published: 08 November 2007
The question of detention without charge for terror suspects will dominate the debate about Labour's ninth counter-terrorism Bill over the coming months. That fact has killed off, unfortunately, the hopes of those of us who wanted a consensual approach to the vital issue of national security.
Steve Richards: Gordon Brown is playing political games with a debate that is both sinister and silly
Published: 08 November 2007
The Government's approach to terrorism is confused and incoherent. Bravely, and with good cause, the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, defends the Metropolitan police chief, Sir Ian Blair, from the media mob that is gunning thoughtlessly for his scalp. She would have secured easy credit if she had been more supine and withdrawn her support. Instead, she and Ken Livingstone chose the thornier path, defying the mighty media and the pathetic Tory and Liberal Democrat members of the Greater London Assembly who dance to the newspapers' tunes.
Johann Hari: Stop this strategy of strangulation
Published: 08 November 2007
The Israeli Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz, will this week decide whether to tighten to slow the strangulation of an entire people. Since the democratically elected Hamas government took power in the Gaza Strip in June, the 1.5 million people who live in that cramped and crumbling prison on the Mediterranean have been punished by being choked off from the world. Gaza is surrounded by gun-toting soldiers and razor-wire; nothing goes out, and almost nothing goes in.
Adrian Hamilton: Mervyn King is the wrong man for the job
Published: 08 November 2007
After this week's interview with the BBC, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, should really be called the "Not Me Guv". It was a classic of its kind, as the most distinguished figure in London's financial markets declared that, of course, he had made mistakes but these were only in not pushing more strongly for the reforms he had already been proposing, and in not stating his case more clearly. The fundamental decision not to fund a takeover of Northern Rock was made not by him but by the Chancellor, Alistair Darling.
Christina Patterson: When equality means giving in to extremists
Published: 08 November 2007
The trouble with miscellaneous job-lots is that they tend to be rather messy. Like the conveyor-belt of consumables in that apogee of Seventies super-camp, The Generation Game, you find kitchen knives nestling against pink fluffy toys, and the spiked forks of a fondue set next to a Teasmade. And so it is with quangos.
Jeremy Laurance: Research may bring sanity to the weight debate
Published: 08 November 2007
So it is possible to be both fat and fit? We are so used to heaping those who are fat with other value-laden judgements – that they are lazy, indulgent and weak-willed – that we neglect the possibility they may be carrying a few extra pounds and still be perfectly healthy.
The Sketch: Stolen policies are PM's tainted fruit
Published: 08 November 2007
No PMQs yesterday, so a Sketch-point from the day before. David Cameron asked the PM about inheritance tax thresholds. Look me in the eye, he'd said. Go on, tell me you were going to reform the tax before we Tories said we were going to do it.
Steve Richards: At long last, Gordon Brown is beginning to find an authentic Prime Ministerial voice
Published: 07 November 2007
Ever since the non-election of the early autumn, politics has felt bizarrely and suddenly different, the equivalent of visiting a different country without travelling to get there. Labour is down, with some ministers wondering whether there will be a bright sunny dawn again. The Conservatives are up, once more rediscovering the complacent cockiness that infected their calculations in the final months of Tony Blair's leadership.
Hamish McRae: The money's there - but it's not in the West
Published: 07 November 2007
So as the Queen's Speech reminds us, governments make laws and run services – and they are judged by how well they do these jobs. Or rather, that is what most Western governments do, and we pay them taxes to enable them to do so. They do not deploy wealth around the world, for example buying foreign companies or securing access to mineral resources. To do so would be an almost frivolous extension of their remit.
Maajid Nawaz: We must stop giving fodder to the fanatics
Published: 07 November 2007
The terrorism legislation outlined in the Queen's Speech yesterday won't have been influenced by the remarks made by Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, the day before. Yet in revealing that British teenagers are being groomed to become terrorists, Mr Evans has helped prepare the ground that makes changes to current terrorism legislation seem necessary.
Mark Steel: Everyone should watch these medieval antics
Published: 07 November 2007
The postal workers, like the workforce in every other institution, have been told they must modernise or be overtaken by forces who are prepared to be modern. And to set an example, the Government that insists on this laid out their plans yesterday in the modern setting of the state opening of parliament.
Terence Blacker: Why does the BBC worship Poliakoff?
Published: 07 November 2007
In its latest season of scandals, the BBC has offered us some rare treats. There was the Blue Peter cat outrage, a rich variety of phone-in scams, the allegation that a lovely newsreader, Moira Stewart, was being fired on grounds of age and, of course, a return of that old favourite, Jonathan Ross's salary. Yet oddly, one scandal seems to have escaped the notice of commentators. It is called Stephen Poliakoff.
The Sketch: Pots, kettles, and even an extraterrestrial encounter
Published: 07 November 2007
The best bit in the Lords was when nothing happened. You wouldn't have seen it on television because television never shows nothing happening. The Queen of England comes into the House of Lords and sits on her golden throne (if you are getting that prickle behind the eyes, don't be ashamed) and then nothing happened. We all sat and looked at her. No music, no special lighting, no video. Tiaras twinkled a bit, perhaps. We were alone in the presence of the head of state, getting a little dreamy.
The statement by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry
Published: 06 November 2007
“The whole of the judiciary of Pakistan is struggling for the supremacy of the constitution. The Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO)|issued by General Musharraf has been declared a step to interfere in the independence of the judiciary, and therefore a judicial ‘restraining’ order against it had been issued by a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court, which has to be respected and enforced.
Sunder Katwala: Brown must not stick to his winning formula
Published: 06 November 2007
Deborah Orr: Will another two years in the classroom really help those who can't write or add up?
Published: 06 November 2007
Philip Hensher: Where is the dignity in the display of this corpse?
Published: 06 November 2007
Dominic Lawson: A retort to the population control freaks
Published: 06 November 2007
Thomas Sutcliffe: The smallest steps are often the hardest
Published: 06 November 2007
How refreshing it would be if the Queen's Speech today revealed that the Prime Minister has been busy thinking small. This is not what we're supposed to want as political consumers, of course. We're supposed to be hungry for big ideas and grand gestures, for the epic theatre of social transformation. And the prevailing anxiety surrounding Mr Brown as Prime Minister is that he might not be able to supply it.
Dr Neal Spencer: Now all the world can witness this ancient marvel
Published: 05 November 2007
The unmasking of King Tutankhamun has captured the world's enduring fascination with ancient Egypt and, in particular, the life of this young pharaoh whose death remains a mystery.
Asma Jahangir: Musharraf has lost his marbles
Published: 05 November 2007
The situation in the country is uncertain. There is a strong crackdown on the press and lawyers. A majority of the judges of the Supreme Court and four judges of the High Court have not taken their oaths. The Chief Justice is under house arrest (unofficially). The president of the Supreme Court Bar, Aitzaz Ahsan, and two former presidents, Mr Muneer Malik and Tariq Mahmood have been imprisoned for one month under the preventive detention laws.
Bruce Anderson: Enoch Powell made the Rivers of Blood speech out of ambition, not conviction
Published: 05 November 2007
Chris Huhne: There are better things to do than replace Trident
Published: 05 November 2007
Johann Hari: What's to fear in a superhuman species?
Published: 05 November 2007
Andreas Whittam Smith: After this the bankers should go back to basics
Published: 05 November 2007
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