Yesterday saw three developments that many would have thought inconceivable. The country's newly elected parliament approved Yousaf Raza Gilani as the next Prime Minister. The former parliamentary speaker was the candidate of the late Ms Bhutto's Pak...

Western donors, with their requirements that elections are enough to warrant aid, have helped along this limited view of democracy. Zimbabwe is staging its long-awaited presidential election this weekend, with Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF so blatan...

But the article was inaccurate in some respects. The German offensive of 21 March 1918 was not launched at Easter, which fell at the end of March in 1918 (a minor point, but once in print such "facts" are difficult to dislodge). More seriously, while...

It is staggering that the main concern of the MoD is the criticisms at inquests rather than the substance of the criticisms, and sums up the mindset that places budgets first and personnel last, regardless of human cost. It is difficult not to conclu...

Fair enough, but many libertarians who look for no gods in the sky remain prone to a modern form of ancestor worship. They tend to revere the historical events and characters that helped secure the liberties and dignities they praise: from Napoleon t...

He cites the Jewish community a century ago in the East End, where sweatshops enabled them to use their skills "to carve out a living" and "haul themselves out of poverty". Britain's industrialising economy was indeed a great liberator of human poten...