Daily News.

Obama: McCain is not racist
The Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama has denied he accused his Republican rival John McCain of racism, saying: "In no way do I think John McCain's campaign was racist." But he decried the Republican campaign as "cynical" and "negative". On Friday, McCain's team accused Obama of playing the... [continued]
The political scandal America doesn't want to know about
Bush drops McCain the warmonger in it

Solzhenitsyn dies aged 89
The soviet dissident and Nobel literature prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn has died at the age of 89. His son Stepan said he had died at home of heart failure. Solzhenitsyn's expose of the gulags, where tens of millions perished, cost him 20 years in exile during which he became one... [continued]

‘Green tax’ plans criticised
A committee of MPs has criticised the Government's plans to selectively increase road tax to discourage pollution. The Environmental Audit Commission says the plans are a "step in the right direction", but the chairman, Conservative MP Tim Yeo, says the benefit to the environment would be "limited". And three members... [continued]
The Mole: Miliband tests Brown with call for ‘radical new phase’

Honeymoon shooting victim dies
Ben Mullany, the bridegroom whose wife was shot dead during a bungled robbery on their honeymoon in Antigua, has died in hospital. The 31-year-old never woke from the coma he entered after being shot at Catherine's side. He was flown home to Swansea by air ambulance in a desperate attempt... [continued]

Sixteen die in Chinese border attack
Four days before the opening of the Olympic games in Beijing, 16 Chinese policemen have died in an attack on a border post in the troubled Muslim region Xinjiang. State media reports that two attackers threw grenades, before moving in to attack with knives. Both assailants were captured. Uighur... [continued]
Beijing 2008: speedy analysis, strong comment, enduring photographs
Seven ways it could still go wrong for China

India: 145 die in temple crush
As many as 145 pilgrims, including 30 children, have died in a stampede at a Himalayan temple in the north of India. Officials said most of the victims had died of suffocation after rumours of a landslide caused panic among the many thousands of pilgrims at the remote Naina Devi... [continued]

N Rock: negative equity rising
Northern Rock is to admit that around 20 per cent of its customers are in negative equity. The Government-owned mortgage bank says about 140,000 homes may now be worth less than the mortgage debt their owners face, which could lead to the state reposessing homes. Many of the affected home... [continued]
America and Europe will rise from the financial ashes

A&L profits almost wiped out
Half-year profits at Alliance & Leicester have slumped to £2m from £290m for the same period last year after the bank was forced into massive write-downs triggered by the global credit crisis. But the mortgage lender claimed its core business was still in "good shape". The A&L write-down was... [continued]

David v Goliath

The Prime Minister must answer one question. Is he a man or a mouse? If he is a mouse, fine, let him snivel and grovel on in office. Who knows? Given the difficulty Labour has in displacing a leader, he might even manage to last longer in Number 10 than Anthony Eden did. But if Gordon Brown has any dignity, any self-respect, he ought to come out clunking. Fire Mr Miliband and anyone else who follows his example. Let it be known that if there were a move to challenge his leadership, he would go straight to the Palace and ask for a dissolution. This might not work, but Mr Brown would at least have the pleasure of dying on his feet. He could easily add late Samson to his Heathcliff repertoire. Bruce Anderson
The Independent
Full article: Tories can't believe their luck as Labour destroys itself
Filed under: Bruce Anderson,

Gordon Brown

Brown has failed, says Jackie Ashley. A successful leader needs to strengthen and expand the circle of those who feel loyalty, and who are in turn given loyalty. Instead of expanding the circle of support, Brown has tightened and narrowed it. Maybe it’s Miliband’s hour. Until recently I thought he was nice, bright, charming - but too cerebral to strike, too academic for the very top in politics. But something inside him has shifted. He no longer looks frightened. The best thing would be for Brown to stand aside, with a rueful smile and a few blunt words of regret; after which he would find himself one of the most popular men in the country. I don't suppose that will happen. New Labour faces the most agonising dilemma in its history. But when you are dangerously ill, refusing the doctor and ridiculing surgery isn't always the sensible option. Jackie Ashley
The Guardian
The Mole: PM under siege
Full article: A principled man, but Brown has to go
Filed under: Jackie Ashley,

Gordon Brown, David Miliband

If the Miliband challenge succeeds - or even if it almost succeeds - we will enter a new phase of political life, says Janet Daley. Once Labour starts talking seriously about a programme for the future, this will have the effect of flushing out the Conservatives, who still seem to believe that they can tiptoe into Downing Street without telling anybody what they are really thinking. The business of Tory policy being held in top-security lockers on a need-to-know basis will have to go. Rather than just dropping the occasional bit of veil and giving us a tantalising glimpse of education policy or welfare reform, Mr Cameron's team will have to strip right down and do a veritable pole dance to win back our attention. Honest, substantive political debate will come alive. Janet Daley
Daily Telegraph
Full article: Tories should get ready for Miliband
Filed under: David Miliband, David Cameron, Janet Daley

Karadzic's legacy

Radovan Karadzic might seem an absurd figure, but the ideology that he embodied was serious enough to have catastrophic and continuing effects, writes Robin Harris. The early 1990s were formative in the rise of global Islamic terrorism, including what would be al-Qaeda, and Bosnia was central to this. In despair, the largely Muslim Sarajevo government turned for support to Islamic groups and countries. Money and arms poured in - from among others, it seems, Osama bin Laden. There also arrived several thousand mujahideen, initially from Iran and Afghanistan, later from North Africa and the Middle East. In different ways, both Karadzic and bin Laden now share an interest in propagating the idea that the wars in former Yugoslavia represented a titanic clash of civilisations. Robin Harris
The Times
Robert Fox: what about Mladic?
Full article: How Karadzik stirred global Islamic terror

Filed under: Radovan Karadzic, Islam


Turkey turns away

Patiently waiting to be admitted to the EU since 1987, the Turks are no longer asking, says Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. They believe a new power bloc of India and some of the more enlightened Muslim states offers them better prospects. This is appalling news for both sides. The EU has admirably democratised nations previously under authoritarianism. Turkey's ruling Islamicist AKP party has shown better governance because it wanted to impress Europe. Now Islamicisation is creeping in. Europe had the chance to end the ideological chasm between hardline Islam and the West by embracing its Christian and Muslim heritages, to heal the world. It has chosen instead to be injudicious, obtuse and bigoted. Even George Bush understands how dumb this is. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
The Independent
Full article: No welcome - now the Turks don't even want to join Europe
Filed under: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Turkey, Europe


Holy peace-making

Any student of conflict resolution will recognise the problem the Archbishop of Canterbury has faced, says a Guardian Leader. The extremes of both sides are beyond agreement. The archbishop believes time might bring enlightenment, and his job is to stop the confrontationists of both sides forcing a division first. The danger of playing it long is that some might walk away from the process. Play it short, and some definitely will. History may say the rift had already opened before the bishops even arrived at Canterbury: after all, 230 of them stayed away. But Dr Williams has probably held off official schism for his tenure in office. His Lambeth Conference was not a complete failure. The liberals may feel the price was too high, but sometimes for peacekeepers, a fudge is as good as a success. Leader
The Guardian
Full article: Faith 1, Charity 0
Filed under: Church of England, Rowan Williams



The country must decide
The political purpose of replacing Mr Brown would be for Labour to make another fresh start. It would be able to do so only if it asked for, and received, support from the voters. A new leader would not need to call an election instantly, but he or she should not tarry too long. If they did so, Labour would pay a heavy political price. Leader The Times
Full article: New leader, new election

Filed under: Labour, Gordon Brown

What energy policy?
The deal allowing the French energy company EDF to build us new nuclear power stations seems to be coming apart. Few British people would regard a French public-sector company as a desirable monopoly provider of nuclear power in Britain. But without this deal, does the Government have any energy policy at all? William Rees-Mogg The Times
Full article: A policy of running on empty won't do

Filed under: William Rees-Mogg, Nuclear power

Iran crisis looms
There is no doubt about the desire of both the Israeli and US governments to destroy Iran's nuclear plants by force before Bush leaves office.

The economic and political costs of such an exhibition of force would be appalling. Negotiating with the Iranians is a maddening and frustrating business. But bombing them would be a catastrophe for us all. Many fingers will need to be tightly crossed between now and next January. Max Hastings The Guardian
Full article: Negotiating with Iran is maddening, but bombing would be a catastrophe

Filed under: Max Hastings, Iran

Lads’ mags harm us
Michael Gove was right to criticise lads' mags, which systematically isolate sex from relationships. Evolution has so conditioned us that girls rarely need to be told that sex should have a context; boys do. Yet politicians have sometimes focused disproportionately on single mothers rather than on the men who abandon them.
Leader Daily Telegraph
Full article: Loaded magazines

Filed under: Michael Gove,

SexParents are cowards
Perhaps we parents are selfish, in protecting our children so much. Are we worried only about our children's safety, or are we infected by anxiety about how we might feel if our child was injured? Maybe it is our own anguish we want to avoid nowadays, as much as it is our children's. By protecting them we protect ourselves. Deborah Orr The Independent
Full article: We are infected by our own anxiety

Filed under: Deborah Orr,

ChildrenComedy still clever
We still turn out sharply intelligent and well-read comedy artists, fit to re-found civilisation: Stewart Lee, Christopher Green, Jack Dee all pull big audiences. It seems that neither the horrid froth of celebrity mags and trash telly, nor the dull sterility of government exams, can tell the whole story of the modern British mind. Thank God. Libby Purves The Times
Full article: The simple way to stop being uneducated