The Week

Leading article

Bad sport

Should John Terry be stripped of his captain’s armband for conducting an extramarital affair with a teammate’s girlfriend, getting her pregnant, and then paying for her to have an abortion? Of course not. Should John Terry be stripped of his captain’s armband for conducting an extramarital affair with a teammate’s girlfriend, getting her pregnant, and

The false promise of ‘equality’’

The Pope certainly knows how to make an entrance. As he prepares for his visit to Britain, the Holy Father has not sent the usual diplomatic advance party but an Exocet missile aimed at the government — and specifically at Harriet Harman’s Equality Bill. It is a worthy target. The Bill itself is an appalling

Portrait of the week

Portrait of the week | 6 February 2010

Mr Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, said MPs would vote next week on whether a referendum should be held to allow an alternative-vote system in general elections after the next one. The government also came up with new ideas for persecuting smokers, such as driving them from shelter in doorways. Members of the Scottish Parliament

Ancient and modern

Ancient & modern | 06 February 2010

Tony Blair claimed with almost evangelical fervour that it was ‘right’ to side with America in deciding to attack Iraq and went on: ‘I had to take this decision as Prime Minister. It was a huge responsibility.’ Tony Blair claimed with almost evangelical fervour that it was ‘right’ to side with America in deciding to

Letters

Letters | 6 February 2010

When war is a crime Sir: Andrew Gilligan’s trenchant indictment of Blair (‘How can we punish Blair?’, 30 January) includes the mitigating claim that: ‘For all the cries that he is a “war criminal”, the Nuremberg Principles make clear that war crimes relate largely to atrocities committed in the course of combat or aggression. The