Commentators

Richard Garner: Money matters, but students take precedence

The hidden tragedy of the London Metropolitan University affair is the lack of care taken to keep a check on its students, many of whom were from disadvantaged areas having their first taste of university life.

Inside Commentators

Bruce Anderson: Iraq is inseparable from the personality of Tony Blair

Monday, 23 November 2009

The destruction of Saddam was a noble cause, even if ineptly conducted

Lewis Blackwell: Copenhagen might dither, but the rest of us can get planting

Monday, 23 November 2009

Never mind Copenhagen, we can involve ourselves as growers and volunteers

Why is my gender suddenly in retreat?

Monday, 23 November 2009

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: The truth is that all nations would prefer it if women went back indoors again

Robert Verkaik: It is only fair that judges be held to account

Monday, 23 November 2009

In the wake of the summer's brouhaha over MPs' expenses, interest naturally turned to other public office-holders who make claims on the public purse. Police officers, council chiefs and senior civil servants have all had their personal financial claims subjected to the uncomfortable glare of public scrutiny. Likewise senior managers at the BBC had to justify why they spent thousands of pounds on champagne, flowers and gifts at the expense of the licence-fee payer.

Daniel Howden: It's really about Kigali getting back at Paris

Monday, 23 November 2009

The 100 days of killings that seared this small, mountainous country into the global consciousness also destroyed its relationship with France. The new Tutsi-led government under Paul Kagame has blamed France for bolstering the Hutu regime, and accused Paris of an active role in the genocide of 1994, in which 800,000 people were slaughtered.

Sean O'Grady: A neat sidestep of an age-old dilemma, but only if Labour lose

Monday, 23 November 2009

At first sight, Nick Clegg has devised a neat way of avoiding the tricky question that has trapped Liberal leaders from Asquith to Ashdown – "whom do you prefer?" – by simply bouncing the question back to the electorate.

Philip Hensher: Gaffes that can be a boon to Cameron

Monday, 23 November 2009

Peter Hobbins is a member of the Conservative association in Orpington, Kent, and a local councillor. In the past, he was a Conservative Party candidate, failing to win the Rhondda seat in the 2001 General Election. He was struck by the changing nature of aspiring Tory politicians, and put his thoughts in a series of e-mails to fellow Orpington conservatives. Candidates included, he said, "a Mr Dilon Gumraj and a Zerha Zaidi and others ... not one of them has a 'normal' English name ... Maybe I should change my name to something foreign – how does Petrado Indiano Hobbinso sound to you?" Startling stuff, and Mr Hobbins has been suspended from the party forthwith.

Nicholas Lezard: Breadwinners and losers

Monday, 23 November 2009

I thought I told you that I wanted you to leave this kitchen in as good a state as you found it

Tony Paterson: The bratwurst is yet to come

Monday, 23 November 2009

Berlin Diary: Today sees the opening of the first of the 60 Christmas fairs that have mushroomed throughout the city

Ann M Veneman: With universal standards, we can stop children suffering

Monday, 23 November 2009

A historic decision was made on 20 November 1989, when world leaders adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the UN General Assembly. Since its inception 20 years ago, the Convention has become the most-ratified human rights treaty in history.

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