Leading article
Human wrongs
There is a danger in this week’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Abu Hamza and four other Islamic extremists can be extradited to face terror charges… Read more
Carbon captives
The government’s desire for a ‘green economy’ has become such an obsession that it has begun to override common sense. This week, the Department for Energy and Climate Change invited… Read more
The generations game
‘When the Cold War ended, we thought we were going to have a clash of civilisations,’ wrote the American author and businessman David Rothkopf. ‘It turns out we’re having a… Read more
Budget battles
For the past couple of months, government business has been bogged down in the detail of taxation policy. Higher personal tax allowances, a lower top rate, more stamp duty for… Read more
Repatriate British justice
If an inquiry were to be launched into the excesses of the dentistry profession, it would not be conducted by a body made up entirely of dentists. You wouldn’t put… Read more
Osborne’s duty
Vince Cable has a point. The government does, alas, lack a ‘compelling vision for the economy’ but the Liberal Democrats see this as an opportunity, not a defect. They regard… Read more
Bad habits
Professor Hamid Ghodse, president of the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board, is not the first to observe that Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham have acquired ‘no-go’ areas of ‘fractured communities’ ruled… Read more
George should listen to Danny
Britain is in the middle of the deepest slump in our modern history. What can be done? The best idea we seem to have is one which Danny Alexander drew… Read more
Get-out clause
In the same week that Sun journalists were subjected to dawn raids at home, the British justice system released one of the leading ideologues of al-Qa’eda to walk the streets.… Read more
Economies of shale
The weather conditions of the past week could not have been better conceived to show up the inadequacies of Britain’s — and the rest of Europe’s — energy policy. A vast… Read more
Bank withdrawals
When George Osborne became Chancellor, he took charge of a very large zombie bank with a medium-sized government attached to it. The Royal Bank of Scotland was nationalised in 2008… Read more
Things fall apart
Last week, the Islamist group Boko Haram launched a horrific attack, bombing five Nigerian police stations and killing 186 in one day. What started as a campaign targeting Christians in… Read more
Work in progress
It is often claimed that the Lords, unencumbered by the rivalries and ambitions of the Commons, have a greater affinity with ordinary people than MPs. Certainly, this is the spin… Read more
Save the union
‘Saving the union’ is unlikely to rank highly on David Cameron’s list of new year resolutions. Scotland is becoming a land about which most Westminster politicians know little and care… Read more
Global Britain
David Cameron did not expect to spend Christmas being toasted as a conquering hero. The Prime Minister fully intended to sign a new EU Treaty that night in Brussels, subject… Read more
Leadership, please
Is a time of economic crisis an opportunity for fundamental reform, or a time to muddle through while waiting for calmer waters in which to effect lasting political and economic… Read more
The forgotten workers
It was a reasonable guess that, once the government had appointed a group of the great and good to investigate the summer riots, somehow we would all have to share… Read more
The technocrats’ coup
Just a few weeks ago, calling someone a ‘technocrat’ was a soft insult. The word meant, in effect, an efficient dullard. Now, technocrats appear to be inheriting the earth. They… Read more
The Chancellor’s challenge
First the good bit: the pronouncements of George Osborne’s early weeks at No. 11 helped to pacify investors who might otherwise have treated our government bonds to the same degrading… Read more
Border skirmish
No job in government has its path so strewn with banana skins as that of Home Secretary. A missing criminal, slippery detainee or foreign terrorist can end a ministerial career.… Read more
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