The disappearance of Tony Blair, and the consequent end of the old civil war between Blairites and Brownites, has had a refreshing consequence. Away from the conference hall could be found a free-ranging discussion about the direction of the party. T...

True, he announced stricter sanctions against the military regime in Burma, and reeled off the familiar list of other "brutal regimes" – from Belarus to Cuba and Zimbabwe – which he singled out for special criticism. He also demanded that UN members ...

I was a young surgeon at the Rangoon General Hospital during the 1988 uprising and I saw many students in their uniforms shot brutally in the head and chest, not to maim but to kill as many as possible. We were shot at while treating injured patients...

Perhaps the most depressing consequence of Total's presence in Burma has been its malign influence on French foreign policy. In order to protect Total's interests, the French government has become an obstacle to any serious strengthening of EU measur...

That isn't his real name of course – God knows it wouldn't help if the authorities knew that he had a journalist aunt in England. Last time I heard from my family in Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State up near the Chinese border, he was in a monaster...