Leading article
Playing at soldiers
The Cold War was won by 26 words contained within article five of the Treaty of Washington, which founded Nato…
Doing God
‘We don’t do God,’ was Alastair Campbell’s put-down when his charge, Tony Blair, was tempted to raise the issue of…
The radical centre
In almost a decade as Conservative leader, David Cameron has tended to avoid talking about his political philosophy. He has…
Green and unpleasant
What has happened to Dame Helen Ghosh? Last October the director-general of the National Trust seemed prepared to stand against…
How to lose a country
For centuries, the possibility of Scottish independence seemed so remote as to be laughable. Until recently the nationalists seemed quixotic,…
Patriot games
Possibly because his oratory is no match for his much-displayed pectoral muscles, the speeches of Vladimir Putin are seldom reported…
Blundering on
Yet again, the Conservative party has reminded us that it is quite capable of losing the next election. The events…
French lessons
François Hollande and Ed Miliband could be political blood brothers. Neither has held down a job outside politics for any…
The price of weakness
One cannot legislate for a quiet world. When a former Princeton University college professor was elected president of the United…
Pensions revolution
It is easy to see why George Osborne seemed so confident ahead of the Budget. His radical reform of the…
Mother country
Next week’s Budget marks George Osborne’s last chance to make a game-changing reform before the next election. The Chancellor will…
Who speaks for Europe?
For the first time in many years, the eyes of the world are on Crimea. As Russian troops violated Ukrainian…
Bribing Kiev
The last time Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power in Ukraine, following a corrupt election nearly a decade ago, it…
How to save elephants
The Duke of Cambridge deserves credit for bringing his influence to bear on the growing tragedy of the elephant, whose…
A time to spend
There is nothing inevitable about the by now familiar sight of residents being towed away from flooded homes, of shops…
Floods of incompetence
When Prince Charles arrived in Somerset to meet some of those caught up in the disaster which in five weeks…
Rebels without a cause
Things could scarcely be going better for the Conservatives. Every week seems to bring more news of the recovery. High…
Pilling’s progress
Four bishops and a retired civil servant shut away in a palace, talking about human sexuality — it sounds like the…
Wolves of Whitehall
This week, Martin Scorsese’s film The Wolf of Wall Street opened and the Office of National Statistics reported that house…
Welfare wars
George Osborne is refreshingly uninterested in his public image, believing that he will be judged by the success (or otherwise)…
The power of choice
In one sense David Cameron is lucky that the Conservatives do not enter 2014 with a lead in the polls.…
Joy to the world
Pessimism sells. It shifts books and newspapers, sends ratings soaring. It fills lecture halls, wins research grants, makes political careers.…
By George, he’s got it!
George Osborne has not been a complete disappointment as Chancellor. He has, it is depressing to note, ended up giving…
Winter fuel
Fanciful predictions of all the deaths that will result from climate change, decades into the future, are regularly thrown into…
Alex Salmond’s economic policies would drive an independent Scotland into the ground
Within the white paper on economic policy in an independent Scotland that was published by Alex Salmond’s government this week…
