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Home 2007 December

Thursday, 20 December 2007

  • Leading article: A seasonal reminder of the benefits of Europe
    Friday, 21 December 2007

    One is a ruling from the EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes which is set to force credit card companies to cut the fees they charge shops for authorising sales. If these savings are passed on by retailers and restaurants, it could result in a f...

  • Leading article: We will pay a steep price for our plunder of the oceans
    Thursday, 20 December 2007

    The deal has been welcomed as "fair" by the British fisheries minister, Jonathan Shaw, and hailed as "sustainable" by Richard Lochhead of the Scottish executive. One wonders where these two politicians are getting their information from. It is simply...

  • Maureen Isaacson: I fear for South Africa's women in the Zuma era
    Thursday, 20 December 2007

    The electorate who had voted Zuma in on a pro-poor ticket got to hear some curious reports. On his whirlwind charm offensive of western capitals, Zuma had announced there would be no shift to the left in his policies. Just because he enjoyed the supp...

  • Letters: Carbon-tax
    Friday, 21 December 2007

    Assuming therefore that Hilary Benn does wish to stop this station, are there other options beside the obvious one of Government diktat, which this centre-right government may find a little too "Old Labour" (unfortunately)? Fortunately there is such ...

  • Leading article: Suspect behaviour
    Friday, 21 December 2007

    So was Mr el-Banna met with an apology from the British government, which has allowed him to languish for so long, without trial, in a foreign jail? Was he given advice on how to seek compensation from the US? Far from it. He was promptly arrested un...

  • Letters: Teaching
    Thursday, 20 December 2007

    It doesn't seem teachers have much flexibility in what or how they teach, as the Government roll out endless new targets and faddish plans. Independent schools, on the other hand, do not look dissimilar to the ones of 30 or so years ago and they are ...

  • Leading article: Prolonging an uneasy marriage
    Thursday, 20 December 2007

    Talk of a Belgian "split" may have been premature. Talk of a solution to the crisis is equally unwise. After three months, Mr Verhofstadt, leader of the Flemish Liberal party, is to give way to Yves Leterme, the head of the Flemish Christian Democrat...

  • Leading article: Bad trip
    Friday, 21 December 2007

    There will be severe congestion as some 18 million vehicles take to the roads today. But those on trains will be just as badly served. Those geniuses at Network Rail have cleverly scheduled extensive maintenance works to take place over the busy Chri...

  • Leading article: Culture club
    Thursday, 20 December 2007

    In fact, we're something of a jumble. Some of us are "univores", who are only interested in popular culture. Others are "omnivores" who snaffle up any form of entertainment, high or low. There are "paucivores", who only consume a small amount of cult...

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Day In a Page

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

In his first interview since 'plebgate', the former Chief Whip opens up just enough to concede that, in politics, you have to take the rough with the smooth
Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Special report: Met police call for criminal inquiry into former diplomat's Cayman Islands rule
Fallen angel: Winona Ryder on bouncing back from her decade in the wilderness

Fallen angel: Winona Ryder bounces back

She owned the 1990s... but then she disappeared. Now, Ms Ryder is back with quite the bang in her latest role, as the wife of a notorious real-life Mob hitman.
Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

The director's new film, 'Venus in Fur', is one of the raciest on offer
Rev Richard Coles: 'I don’t have any concerns that God is cross with me for being gay and eventually the Church won’t either'

Rev Richard Coles on the Church and homosexuality

The mellifluous, erudite and witty Coles is the nation's most pop-culture-friendly priest
'Baghdad likes to live from crisis to crisis': Civil war looms in Iraq

Patrick Cockburn: Civil war looms in Iraq

The governor of Kirkuk - one of the country's most violent but successful provinces - fears the worst
Written on the body: Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials

Written on the body

Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials
Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

The IoS marks the sixtieth anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reaching the peak of the highest mountain on Earth
A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

Rupert Cornwell: A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

The destructive power of tornadoes will be as nothing once the Great Plains' vast underground water reserve dries up
Every creature's needless death diminshes us all

Philip Hoare: Every creature's needless death diminishes us all

A 60 per cent decline in our national species should alarm us, yet few of us act. But to mind more about animals would reflect well on society
Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground - and the monks at the heart of it

Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground

Six years ago, the world cheered the monks behind Burma’s Saffron Revolution. Now, a horrific new eruption of religious slaughter is being blamed on a 'Buddhist Bin Laden'.
Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

You can’t always depend on the weather – but you can avoid the pitfalls of the British barbecue by preparing an elaborate outdoor feast indoors ahead of time...
The Calvin report: Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance

The Calvin report

Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance
10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

Warren Gatland's squad fly Down Under aiming to do justice to the expectations – and hoping the Wallabies stay in the pub
The Last Word: Golf must end the hypocrisy before its halo slips totally

The Last Word

Golf must end the hypocrisy before its halo slips totally