Tories attack Brown on poverty
In a sign that the Tories are seeking to move onto what was once sacred ground for Labour, the shadow Chancellor George Osborne has criticised Gordon Brown for not doing enough to alleviate poverty. Writing in the Guardian, Osborne declared that redistribution of wealth had failed as a tool... [continued]
French troops killed by Taliban
Ten French soldiers serving in Afghanistan with the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force were killed earlier this week in a two-day running battle with the Taliban 40 miles east of the country's capital Kabul. The troops, mostly from France's 8th parachute regiment, were on a joint patrol with Afghan... [continued]
Nato stands united against Russia
Nato sent out a defiant message to Russia at its emergency meeting in Brussels yesterday. The summit was called to formulate a response to Russia's invasion and continued occupation of Georgia. Foreign ministers from the alliance's 26 member countries told Moscow that there would be no "business as usual"... [continued]
43 die in Algeria suicide bombing
There was carnage in Algeria yesterday when at least 43 people were killed after a suicide bomber rammed his car into a queue of applicants waiting outside a police academy to register. A further 45 were injured, many seriously. The attack took place in the Issers district of the... [continued]
Brits use 4,645 litres of water daily
The average Briton uses 4,645 litres of water every day, when hidden factors such as washing and the production of their food is taken into account, a new report has revealed. Of this, only 38 per cent is produced from Britain's own resources, which places the country at sixth... [continued]
Illegal games downloaders targetted
Five of the biggest computer games manufacturers are launching a crackdown against thousands of British families who they accuse of having illegally downloaded software from file-sharing servers. Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters will serve notice on 25,000 people, demanding that they pay £300 or face the... [continued]
Sex tourism
It is estimated that worldwide, 1 million children are vulnerable to abuse by sexual tourists, and until recently Britain has been as uninterested in protecting children from British people abroad as it once was in protecting them at home, writes Deborah Orr. Only huge international public interest has made it difficult for Gary Glitter to disappear in Vietnam, Spain, Cuba, or Cambodia. Tabloid pursuit of Glitter may well be uncivilised and distasteful. Spain's disregard for the UN rights of the child in keeping the age of consent at 13 is a more important issue than that of Glitter's presence in the country, for example. But at least his lamentable tale has the potential to draw attention to a much more widespread horror. If the taboids don't track British paodophiles abroad, then no one tends to at all. Deborah Orr The Independent
Full article: Gary Glitter's back – but what about all the others? 
America's crass political debate
Naturally, theatricality is at the core of all political systems, says Zoe Williams, but the American hyper-debate allows, indeed systematises, its worst elements. On telly, with the aid of a little flashing light, there is an extremely short time limit on each answer. As well as putting forward your own case, you have to trounce your opponent's, so a lot of it is a polite slanging match. Only, because that makes you look bad, you then have to waste even more time insincerely praising one another to make up for it. By almost universal assent, the voters finally plump for whoever can make the best fist of saying obvious things very fast, with feeling, without confusing anyone, and without perceptible embarrassment at being a very intelligent person saying crass, high-school things. Zoe Williams The Guardian
Full article: Go on boys, take it outside
The latest from the US election
Nato is useless
Nato is useless, says Simon Jenkins. It has failed to bring stability to Afghanistan, as it failed to bring it to Serbia. It just breaks crockery. Nato has proved a rotten fighting force, which in Kabul is on the brink of being sidelined by exasperated Americans. Nor is it any better at diplomacy: witness its hamfisted handling of east Europe. As the custodian of the West's postwar resistance to the Soviet Union's nuclear threat it served a purpose. Now it has become a diplomats' Olympics, irrelevant but with bursts of extravagant self-importance. Simon Jenkins The Guardian
Full article: In Europe, as in Asia, Nato leaves a trail of catastrophe
What future is there for Nato?
When sport is like war
In a certain respect sport is indeed like war, writes Mark Steel. Because just as commentators are likely to shriek: "This is a fantastic run from Tidsdale, Tidsdale for Great Britain, what a run, oh Tidsdale, Tidsdale, Tidsdale, it's Tidsdale who gets a bronze, the winner's a Kenyan and then a Swede but bronze for Tidsdale," in war we learn of a dead soldier's grieving family, angry friends, devastated colleagues and sense the misery. But if it's foreigners we get: "Afghans claimed between 30 and 50 civilians, killed somewhere on a hill today. Now here's Alan with the sport." Mark Steel The Independent
Full article: If you don't like sport, you're wrong
Beijing Olympics 2008
A narrow cast of Identikit pretenders
Meritocracy having stalled, aspirants to high office come from an increasingly small circle, says George Walden. Like Tony Blair before them, Cameron, Clegg, Purnell and Miliband are privileged folk, the ease of their ascent against declining competition there to be divined on their smiling, self-confident faces. With a narrowing of social background goes a narrowing of our young hopefuls' experience. Miliband was a wonk, Purnell worked at the BBC and wonked, as did Cameron, while selling downmarket shows for Carlton TV. None of this should debar a man from leading his country, we can't all be Churchills. It's just that, with al-Qaeda at large and a recession on the horizon, somehow you can't help thinking... George Walden The Times
Full article: An Identikit parade of young pretenders
Filed under: George Walden, David Cameron, David Miliband, Nick Clegg, James Purnell
In Brief
Russia's weakness
Russia is weaker than Putin's rhetoric implies. It has an unhealthy shrinking population the size of Bangladesh and a GDP per capita lower than Equatorial Guinea. Denis MacShane The Independent
Full article: The mood has darkened across the whole of Europe
Bring back Henry Kissinger
Camping hierarchies
In the pecking order of camping, the humble tent commands top spot, the more basic the better. A kind of Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen reverse logic prevails, where the more rough edges you endure, the greater the kudos you acquire. The camper who sleeps on an inflatable mattress can feel smug towards the softie who needed a real bed - but both have to defer to the crag-faced chap with the roll-mat. Jonathan Freedland The Guardian
Why the camping revival? Something to do with, ahem, the call of nature
Manufactured success
As Matthew Syed, a double Olympian argues: "Success in sport - like in the agricultural market - is easier when it receives huge state subsidies." So are these Olympics evidence of a healthy sporting culture in Britain, or the reverse? To the win-at-all-costs lobby, sport is a glorified branch of the manufacturing industry. It is about how many units of victory we can produce. The means of production matters less than the quality of the output. Ed Smith The Guardian
Full article: True sport is about much more than counting medals
Apathetic about education
When I was in India this summer with my eight-year-old son all people could ask him about was his grades. The newspapers were full of stories about exam results. Parents, schools and regions compete to be best and are constantly peering at China to check who produces the finest engineers and mathematicians. In Britain, we don't care that we languish at 19th in the international league table for literacy. Alice Thomson The Times
Full article: Now let's top the medals table for education
Patronising, spineless Miliband
There is no predicting how Prime Minister Miliband would be received in Washington. He is considered "patronising" by many of the foreign policy types he met there, a description those who have met him can understand. And there is some doubt about his steadfastness in the face of adversity - "spineless" is a word bandied about by those least impressed with this David's ability to take on the Russian Goliath. Irwin Stelzer Daily Telegraph
Full article: Who will save us: David Miliband, David Cameron or Gordon Brown?
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