Commentators

Steve Richards: There's trouble when the spin doctor becomes part of the story

Coulson is the latest figure to be part of the mad interface between press and politics

Inside Commentators

Erick Kabendera: What Africa wants from Obama

Friday, 10 July 2009

Good governance is the most pressing issue and he should tackle it head on

Sean O'Grady: Time the boot was on the other foot

Friday, 10 July 2009

Wheel-clamping abuses cause untold distress. Action is needed

Terence Blacker: True driving force in energy debate is cash

Friday, 10 July 2009

In the week of the first ever Green Britain Day, I was fortunate enough to hear an exchange which captured, in an admittedly microcosmic way, the realities behind the energy debate. At a planning committee in Norfolk, one of two energy companies hoping to put up groups of wind turbines near Diss was applying for permission to erect a 60-metre wind-measuring mast. A councillor pointed out to the team of TCI Renewables that another firm, Enertrag Ltd, had recently erected a mast nearby. Was it not possible for the two firms to share the data?

Ian Burrell: Lawyers could be the winners in Fleet Street hacks' 'blagging' game

Friday, 10 July 2009

It was in Portcullis House that Rebekah Wade first let the cat out of the bag. "We have paid the police for information in the past," the editor of The Sun brazenly stated to MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport committee.

The Sketch: How to talk like a human being: Lesson one

Friday, 10 July 2009

It is with great pleasure that I am able to tell you that my colleagues appeared in front of the Public Administration Committee to give evidence on Official Language, that they appeared with a professor and the lady from the Plain English Campaign, and that they weren't very good. It puts a spring in a fellow's step, that, and gives lunch an added flavour. I hadn't been asked, you see.

Jill Kirby: The five ways that government disguises failure as success

Friday, 10 July 2009

Over the past 10 years, layers of government have multiplied, more regulatory bodies have been put in place, thousands of new laws have been passed and greater powers of surveillance have been accorded to the State. Yet as government activism has increased, so public confidence has fallen. How has this happened? In a new report I identify five techniques used by government to disguise failure as success.