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Dominic Lawson: When 'life' should mean life.

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Sometimes we learn of crimes so vile that the overwhelming public reaction is that the perpetrator should never be released back into society. The case of the Sheffield man – known only as "The Gaffer" – who repeatedly raped his two daughters over a period of 25 years – is Britain's latest contribution to this catalogue of depravity.

Dominic Lawson: When 'life' should mean life

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

When 'life' should mean

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Dominic Lawson: Shame on the doctors prejudiced against Down Syndrome

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

I remember looking up as the noisy family burst into the railway carriage – and immediately noticing that one of the boys had the unmistakable countenance created by an extra 21st chromosome, otherwise known as Down Syndrome. Unmistakable, yes, but I had never before seen the condition in the flesh, and felt a frisson of shock and discomfort.

Dominic Lawson: There's a divine spark to genius as well as hard graft

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

It's a bit disconcerting when your wife tells you that she has enjoyed dinner with "the most fascinating man I have ever met". I was reassured when it turned out that she had been placed next to Sir Isaiah Berlin, not just one of the great thinkers of the 20th century, but also noted as one of the most dazzling conversationalists of the age.

Dominic Lawson: The racism of our adoption rules

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Almost half a century ago, a friend of mine was the subject of what was then seen as a risky experiment. A black baby, she was adopted by a white couple. They lived in a remote rural area and, my friend now relates, "I thought I was the only black person in the whole of England". She also encountered racism even from those who were trying to offer praise. "It's amazing what you are achieving almost straight out of the jungle," one teacher informed her.

Dominic Lawson: When in doubt, blame the banks

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

When the entire political class is united on a single issue, you can be sure that it is largely mistaken: the more conventional is the wisdom, the more certain it is to be based on ignorance or mere fashion.

Dominic Lawson: The French find our local obsessions simply ridiculous

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

The Frenchman in the Eurostar lounge threw the international edition of his English newspaper aside and asked me a question I found difficult to answer. "Tell me, when the Americans are about to decide on their President, and the markets are still collapsing, and mass murder is about to take place in the Congo, why is the biggest story in this newspaper about people who don't matter at all?"

Dominic Lawson: One election player has been overlooked: Osama bin Laden

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

What could possibly go wrong now for the Democrats? Barack Obama's campaign for the White House has just pulled off a tremendous double whammy: the endorsement of General Colin Powell (formerly George W Bush's Secretary of State) and the rush to the bedside of an ailing grandmother (helpfully demonstrating both Obama's youthfulness and his devotion to family).

Dominic Lawson: Keynes is not enough, Mr Darling

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

What exactly does the Chancellor mean by saying that "much of what Keynes wrote still makes sense; you will see us switching our spending priorities to areas that make a difference"? Presumably he doesn't mean that hitherto he had been busy prioritising spending on areas that don't make a difference.

Dominic Lawson: Great pension divide: which side are you on?

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

When I was a feckless undergraduate my grandfather decided to drive down to Oxford in order to impart some advice so significant that he felt it required his (substantial) presence. "I don't know what career you are considering," he said "but I suggest you apply for the Civil Service".

Dominic Lawson: The great pension divide: which side are you on?

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Dominic Lawson: It all went wrong when we left the gold standard

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

My nearby market town of Lewes has started issuing its own pound notes: Tom Paine's portrait is on one side, Lewes Castle on the other. The Bullion Vault, a London gold broker, reports "phenomenal interest" in its product. The multi-millionaire media magnate Felix Dennis tells the FT that he has followed the instructions of his financial adviser to "buy gold. Physical bits, small bits, so when you need to get a sandwich you can take it down the shop and take 300 sandwiches away; God help me, in a vault here in London, I have huge quantities of small bits of gold."

Dominic Lawson: it all went wrong when we left the gold standard

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Dominic Lawson: Don't bank on the Government

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Of course! Why didn't we think of that before? It's the state which should be running banks, with civil servants on the boards instead of those bonus-fixated businessmen. While we're about it, why stop at the banks? What about nationalising the supermarkets? How could we let people profit out of the public's need to avoid hunger? Look at North Korea, last of the old Marxist regimes, where food is free and plentiful – well, at least for the Dear Leader.

Dominic Lawson: The schools that simply do not believe in failure

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

I wish I could have spoken to Andrew Adonis before writing this article, but he seems unable to return my calls. It's just that the removal of the Schools Minister to the intellectual backwater of the Department of Transport is – how should we put this? – a bit puzzling.

Dominic Lawson: Democrat fingerprints are all over the financial crisis

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Of all the characteristics of a successful politician, none is more essential than bare-faced cheek. Never has this been more evident than in the past fortnight, as senior Democrat members of the US legislature have sought to lay all the blame for the country's financial crisis on the executive arm of Government and Wall Street.

Dominic Lawson: Why should anyone trust Joe Biden?

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Joseph Robinette Biden – known to all as "Joe" – was once the most talked about American politician in Britain. Unfortunately for the senior Delaware Senator, all the talk was accompanied by incredulous laughter. As part of his Presidential campaign 20 years ago, he lifted verbatim and without attribution Neil Kinnock's celebrated remarks: "Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to a University ... was it because all our predecessors were thick, those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up to play football?"

Dominic Lawson: The borrowers must take their share of the blame too

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

From: Minister of the Treasury Paulson

Dominic Lawson: Here we go again: another dirty fight

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

This was meant to be the clean Presidential election, a break with the dirty, negative, mud-slinging campaigns of the past. On the Republican side there was John McCain, the military man of honour who in his ultimately unsuccessful Primary battles with the ruthless George W Bush announced that, "I'm not going to take the low road to the highest office in the land. I want the presidency in the best way, not the worst way."

Dominic Lawson: Some hints for saving the world

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Every age has its prophets, moral philosophers who have a unique vision of the good life. Many of them die unrecognised – or even ridiculed – by their contemporaries. One such neglected moralist of our age is Ethan Greenhart, an aptly named environmentalist – although the first seven letters of that word might be redundant in his case.

Dominic Lawson: A simple lesson in humanity

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

It could be described as the ultimate stamp of approval – to be commemorated on the surface of countless letters sent across the country every day. All of us will have our own idea of the sort of person who deserves the immortality of appearing on a postage stamp. In the closing days of the Paralympics, I would like to nominate Lee Pearson.

Dominic Lawson: Don't complain about private schools. Learn from them

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Britain has the best schools in the world. Why else would leading figures in countries such as China and Russia send their children to learn here, rather than in their own educational systems? Their choice is not based on mere social aspiration: the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has produced figures showing that British schools came top out of all 62 groups in science and maths.

Dominic Lawson: This 'babe' has floored the left

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

It is one of the most cherished illusions of the left that conviction politicians of the right are stupid: not just wrong, but actually obtuse. The consequences of such prejudice are obvious: colossal underestimation, leading to blind arrogance, and thus electoral defeat.

Dominic Lawson: How to squeeze the Russians

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

I found the following memo – as you do – under a half-finished cup of coffee on the train to Waterloo. Coffee stains made it difficult to read, but it seemed to have come from a person with the single initial, C.