Leading article: Barack's BlackBerry

They Wouldn't be that reckless would they? Presidential security advisers are telling Barack Obama that he can no longer use his BlackBerry when he enters the White House.

Apparently, it would present a potential threat to national security because hackers might get access to the presidential emails. Dangerous, certainly. But surely not as dangerous as cutting a technologically savvy individual like Mr Obama from his personal digital line to the outside world.

If the incoming US president is going to have the fate of the free world in his hands, do we really want those hands to be shaking from email withdrawal symptoms? It's not known as a"Crackberry" for nothing.

Charlton Heston said that government agents were welcome to take away his gun – so long as they prised it from his cold dead hands. Perhaps Mr Obama might make a similarly forthright commitment to his BlackBerry.