The Osborne saga
Caught between an Ionian rock and a hard place, David Cameron will be damned whatever he does, says Matthew Norman. If he brazens it out and keeps George Osborne, he looks feebly in thrall to aristo tribal loyalties that will undermine his egalitarian message disastrously. If he sacks him, the implicit admission of Osborne's guilt damages the fragile new Tory brand horrendously. It's a shocking call to have to make, but on balance he should fire him quickly for the veneer of decisiveness, and make William Hague his shadow Chancellor. Apart from his intellect and popularity, Mr Hague's comprehensive schooling in Yorkshire makes him a very handy antidote to all the Bullingdon poison. Matthew Norman The Independent
Full article: What possessed Osborne to pick a fight with Mandelson? 
People: Rothschild and Deripaska's business venture
Last summer was the season of the stay-at-home holiday, in which many Britons worrying about the credit crunch chose to forego their week on the cheap end of Corfu to shiver in Skegness, says Mary Riddell. With recession here, people want politicians who have a nodding acquaintanceship with poverty and the problems of the real world. Many Tories do possess that link, but the party leader and the shadow chancellor are not among them. Mr Cameron's beer-drinking, Shreddie-eating, Marigold-wearing, cagoule-clad tableaux of down-home family life are social camouflage. If Lord Mandelson wants to look richer than he really is, then the top Tories are even more desperate to look poorer than they really are. Mary Riddell Daily Telegraph
Full article: Peter Mandelson feeds his addiction to the company of the rich - again
Even before the financial crisis, London was the global leader in the respectability business: offering rich Russians the chance to turn their ill-gotten billions into prestige, writes Edward Lucas. Whether you wanted an entree to high society or to popular culture, British go-betweens and highly paid PR barons were willing to provide it. Buy a football team, sponsor a charity, or make a hefty donation to a posh boarding school - and you suddenly gain the right upmarket cachet. In exchange for what are to them trivial amounts of cash, the numerous oligarchs bought priceless respectability and safety. As fugitives from Russia found, Britain is a safe place - police and bodyguards work smoothly together; Russian extradition warrants count for little. In retrospect, that respectability was sold rather cheaply. Edward Lucas The Guardian
Full article: Corfu is a scene in the great Russian buy-up of Britain
Obama looks presidential
Barack Obama has the kind of cryptic detachment that is an asset to any chairman, writes Timothy Garton Ash. Personally, he seems centred and rooted. You feel this is a man who knows who he is. Not because he has always known who he is, like the heir to "a long line of McCains", but because for a long time he didn't - and then worked it out for himself the hard way, through the search recorded in the autobiographical Dreams From My Father. He has, so to speak, the rootedness of the uprooted. He has also cut some of the waffle that we heard earlier in the campaign. Timothy Garton Ash The Guardian
Full article: The more Obama is tested, the more he shows his presidential mettle
Alexander Cockburn: Would McCain survive a full term?
Sarah Palin's wardrobe
Since she became the vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin has spent $150,000 on clothes and accessories, $25,000 more than her annual salary before tax, notes a Times leader. The clothes are apparently destined to go to charity after the campaign, which sounds like both an early admission of defeat and a bonanza for the second-hand shops of Alaska. It's not just clothes; there are hair issues too. The Alaska Governor's hairdressing and make-up bill since September has been $4,700. Every time politicians have an expensive haircut they might as well declare themselves aliens. How can John Edwards possibly speak for blue-collar workers if he is spending $400 getting his locks trimmed? Hillary Clinton was often assailed as her hair changed expensively from a soft bob to something with the consistency of chromium. Leader The Times
Full article: Shop Till You Drop
People: Palin spends big to look good for Republicans
In Brief
Islanders denied justice
The Chagossians [islanders that the Lords have ruled may not return to their homes] have been shabbily treated for reasons of realpolitik. What sort of risk does Washington think is posed by the return of the islanders to the outer parts of this British territory, which can be freely visited by yachts? Leader Daily Telegraph
Full article: Islanders denied justice
Missing girls
India is projected to be the world's most populous nation by 2050 at around 1.6 billion, which will strain the country's already stretched water resources and food security. Equally worrying is the sex-ratio of India's population: female infanticide has created a "deficit" of about a million "missing girls" per year. Young men in some regions of India already struggle to find brides, and families in prosperous states have begun to import brides from poorer regions. Jeevan Deol The Times
Full article: The shadow behind India's dazzling success
Female foeticide is still rife in modern India
Muslim women
In Saudi Arabia, women are kept under house arrest and banned from driving or showing their faces in public. In Afghanistan, the Taliban massacre teachers who dare to educate girls. In Iran, women are stoned to death for adultery. In Somalia, women's vaginas are butchered, with the clitoris cut out and the remains crudely stitched up. These are not freak exceptions: they are often state policy. Johann Hari The Independent
Full article: Dare we stand up for Muslim women?
Photography: Afghan women under the Taliban
Autism is expensive
The lifetime cost to society of caring for someone with autism can be as much as £4.7m per person. That includes everything from direct medical expenses and the provision of special education, to the hidden costs of childcare, adult care in later life, respite and family care, as well as the lost wages for carers who have to give up their careers. Bob Wright The Times
Full article: Autism speaks. It's time for the world to listen
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