Leading Articles

Leading article: We should welcome this small, significant move by Israel

The US must build on Mr Netanyahu's acceptance of a Palestinian state

Recent Leading Articles

Leading article: A welcome change of heart on SATs

Monday, 15 June 2009

It's no surprise that teaching unions have welcomed the Shadow education minister's announcement that the Tories plan to scrap SATs for 11-year-olds, replacing tests in the last year of primaries for assessments in the first year of secondaries. Unions have long campaigned against "teaching to the test", maintaining that the drive to get children past these exams distorts the curriculum and makes it hard to provide an all-round education.

Leading article: Flesh ideas for Monday

Monday, 15 June 2009

The suggestion by Paul McCartney and his two daughters, Stella and Mary, that we should abstain from meat one day a week has a certain irony, as well as historical resonance, to it; until the late Middle Ages, that was already standard practice throughout Europe.

Leading article: The 'axis of evil' revisited

Sunday, 14 June 2009

It was one of the stupidest sound bites in history. George Bush, in his State of the Union address on 29 January 2002, stigmatised North Korea, Iran and Iraq as "an axis of evil".

Leading article: Wanted: some political honesty on public services

Saturday, 13 June 2009

Both Labour and the Conservatives are obfuscating the issues

Leading article: Closing Guantanamo is not so easy

Saturday, 13 June 2009

When Barack Obama announced, in one of his first acts as President, that he would close the prison at Guantanamo by the end of the year, he was doing no more than honour one of his most often stated campaign promises. But it turns out that deciding to shut down the camp was one thing; working out what to do with the remaining inmates – quite another.

Leading article: The election of a new Speaker is a test for all MPs

Friday, 12 June 2009

This is a contest that could help to restore the dignity of Parliament

Leading article: BBC needs to cut managers as well

Friday, 12 June 2009

It was the sort of meeting at which many a disgruntled licence fee payer would have enjoyed being a fly on the wall. Some of the biggest name presenters of the BBC were summoned this week by the Director General, Mark Thompson, and warned to expect a salary cut as part of the Corporation's efficiency drive.

Leading article: Football fever

Friday, 12 June 2009

Six months ago Sir Alex Ferguson pledged that he wouldn't sell Real Madrid a virus. So the Manchester United manager has decided to sell the Spanish club Cristiano Ronaldo instead.

Leading article: A timely legal rebuke to this official culture of secrecy

Thursday, 11 June 2009

The Law Lords were right to find fault with the system of control orders

Leading article: Beyond the Islamic revolution

Thursday, 11 June 2009

Iranians go to the polls tomorrow after one of the most lively and keenly fought campaigns since the Islamic revolution. The main choice, between the populist incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose rabble-rousing rhetoric brought him victory last time around, and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister hailed by Western observers as a reformist, suggests that the revolution has come of age.