For all the fine words and formality, however, there was no concealing the uncomfortable and many-layered truth. This was not a victory, certainly not for the British, but not for the Iraqis either. For security reasons, the ceremony took place not i...

The Prime Minister's announcement is not quite the major policy shift it seems. Negotiation with the enemy has been on the cards for some time. For many months, President Karzai has favoured reconciliation with almost any insurgent prepared to lay do...

Nothing but a reduction in the unpredictability of English spelling is likely to make much difference. The way English is now spelt makes learning to read and write uniquely difficult and exceptionally dependent on one-to-one help from articulate and...

But no one should blame the Liberal Democrats either for their sharp rebuff. If Mr Cameron had hoped to catch them in a moment of weakness as their acting leader, Vince Cable, prepares to give way to the new leader, when the result of the contest is ...

A "Bah, humbug!" edition? It might work. Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans banished the festive season in 1647 on the grounds that it was a Catholic anachronism that encouraged drunkenness and gluttony, and we'd have some backing from Lenin, who, acco...

"Thanks, Dad," said my friend. "Lily bullied me at school actually... But, um, yeah, thanks." Oh, the perils of popstardom, especially when you've been to 11 schools, as Lily has well, you're bound to have offended somebody, somewhere. But as Lily ha...