Leading Articles

Leading article: Now is the time to tackle the abuses of our welfare system

The present recession provides no excuse for delaying reform

Recent Leading Articles

Leading article: A military challenge to Mr Mugabe

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

Is the alliance of forces that has kept Robert Mugabe in power finally starting to crack? For more than a decade now Zimbabweans have watched their once-prosperous country slide into penury and decay. Their government's mismanagement has brought hunger, disease, plunging life-expectancy, joblessness and hyperinflation to a land that was at one time the breadbasket of Africa. As the months and years have passed, and Mr Mugabe secured his power by fair means or foul, one could only marvel at people's forbearance. Every forecast that Zimbabwe could survive not a moment longer was disproved, as people somehow found a way.

Leading article: Bear necessities

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

Not even bears benefit from the bear market, it seems. When Knut the polar bear cub celebrates his second birthday at Berlin Zoo on Friday, this could be almost the last time he meets his adoring public on what was taken for granted as his home territory. Not only does the growing animal need a larger enclosure than the zoo can provide – where did those millions of euros he brought in from extra visitor fees go? – but a contract is out on his future.

Leading article: Conventional wisdom and terrible consequences

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

The report into Haringey children's services demands radical action

Leading article: Strength and experience

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

As with the economic appointments last week, so with his foreign affairs and security appointments yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama has gone for a mix of weight, experience and an ability to work across the partisan divide. Mrs Clinton, the most high profile of the choices so far, touches all these buttons. She has authority, experience of the world at large and an ability shown as junior senator for New York to co-operate with opponents in the House.

Leading article: Credits where credit is due

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

This is a scandal. As if British society is not already under enough pressure from one "credit crunch", we are now facing another. To find it, don't reach for your bank statement, however, switch on your television, where it is now virtually impossible to identify who is responsible for making the programmes. Credits are shrunk to a fraction of their natural size in order to give space to advertising, or run past the top of our screens as an illegible lightening-fast blur.

Leading article: India and Pakistan have a common extremist enemy

Monday, 1 December 2008

The slaughter in Mumbai has finally come to an end. But the political inquest into the atrocity is only beginning. Hundreds of angry Mumbai residents took to the streets yesterday to protest at the failure of the Delhi government to keep them safe. The Indian media, meanwhile, is asking pointed questions about how prepared the authorities were for such an assault.

Leading article: Competent leadership badly needed

Monday, 1 December 2008

The scandal of the arrest of the Shadow immigration minister, Damian Green, continues to reverberate. Arresting MPs (not to mention raiding their offices in the House of Commons) is no small matter in a democracy. The affair must be treated with the highest seriousness by the Government. Before anything else we need an official statement detailing exactly what ministers knew before the raid went ahead. Otherwise, poisonous suspicions that the police have been used as a political tool will continue to fester.

Leading article: Bonfire of the Bills

Monday, 1 December 2008

It is hard to see silver linings in those recessionary clouds, but if you peer closely enough, you might just make some out. Take this week's Queen's speech. The Government needs to make room on the legislative agenda for emergency action to alleviate the banking crisis. One casualty is the Communications Data Bill, which provides for the creation of a giant database of information about our telephone calls, emails and internet searches. No one with any grasp of Britain's history of liberty will mourn that omission.

Leading article: We can give Zimbabwe hope

Sunday, 30 November 2008

The last that most people in this country knew of Zimbabwe was that a power-sharing deal had been done between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader. Some of us might have been aware that the implementation of the deal had become a bit sticky, and we might have wondered what had become of Mr Tsvangirai in recent weeks.