How do you talk to Hamas?
Hamas, as its charter and political literature make clear, does not want an end to Israeli occupation, writes Amir Taheri. It wants the end of Israel. That is because Hamas is part of a pan-Islamist movement with global messianic ambitions. Creating a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank is not its aim. A branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas dreams of world dominion for its version of Islam rather than a mini-state in 5,000 square kilometres of barren land in a geopolitical backyard. One cannot negotiate with a cause that claims celestial benediction, especially when it rejects the very legitimacy of one's existence. Amir Taheri The Times
Full article: No way forward while the Hamas hydra lives 
The Gaza File: Obama 'ready to open dialogue with Hamas'
In pictures: Gaza school attack
Religion in recession
So we are doomed, says Simon Jenkins. The boffins have tried everything yet the disease rages unchecked. Economists are retreating from the recessionary front, wild-eyed and covered in blood. The public has recourse to others, to soothsayers and purveyors of prayers, jujus and magic mushrooms. When a crisis is a total mystery, the mystifiers are in a state of grace. A ban has presumably been put on the parable of the talents (a servant castigated by Christ for saving rather than investing). The Church of England feels we had it coming to us, though it unfortunately omitted to warn us beforehand. The Bishop of Manchester declares the "collapse of the god of materialism and consumerism" (a deity unknown to me) and its replacement by a god who apparently will "force us to think again". The bishop is clearly a polytheist. Simon Jenkins the Guardian
Full article: For all the wild apocalyptic punditry, recessions pass. This one will, too
Oxfam should stick to charity
Think what could be done with the £40,000 that Oxfam spent on an advert in the FT calling for an end to the war in Gaza, says Mary Dejevsky. It could, to take just a few examples from elsewhere on the Oxfam website, pay for 20,000 adult literacy classes in Somalia, or a year's school fees for more than 300 orphans in Zambia. Here, regrettably, we have another example of a successful British charity that, as it has grown, has managed to confuse fund-raising with lobbying. The results include lavish PR campaigns and an unhealthy preoccupation with oiling political wheels. Nor is Oxfam is not alone. There are charities for disabled people which have taken it upon themselves to lobby for equal rights rather than, say, equipment that is hard to obtain on the NHS and would transform individual lives. Mary Dejevsky the Independent
Full article: Oxfam is there to help people – not to dabble in politics
What Obama will inherit
The US lost more jobs, net, in 2008 than in any year since the Second World War, writes Gerard Baker. Economic activity in 2009 is likely to decline at its fastest since the same historic landmark. The American consumer, the hero of the global economy in every period of weakness in the past decade - from the Asian financial crisis to 9/11 - has gone on strike. Her carefree days of huge SUVs and $5 cups of coffee are over. Not only is she fearful of losing her job, if she hasn't already lost it, she can no longer expect to meet her long-term saving needs out of higher house and equity prices. So she is doing something she hasn't done in 20 years - saving. Gerard Baker The Times
Full article: Wanted: a superhero to save America
Alexander Cockburn: Team Obama a slap in the face to Obama's base
Starving world feeds only bankers
In the middle of last year, we had a global outcry about the perilous state of billions of people in developing countries whose governments could not afford to provide enough food for them and who could not themselves earn enough to buy food at prevailing prices, writes Jayati Ghosh. These problems are now worse, but the global outcry is all about the multinational banks that are under threat. And several multiples of the money that could not be found to provide food for the hungry are quickly being delivered to bail out irresponsible finance.
Jayati Ghosh the Guardian
Full article: The outcry is muted, but the food crisis is getting worse
Dati takes on mummy-fascism
Certainly, the dusty response of the French press suggests that Rachida Dati has, in a country with famously generous maternity rights, undermined every other mother. Instead of bonding with her baby for at least six months, perhaps reading ministerial papers between breastfeeds, she has run counter to the mummy-fascism in both the women's movement and among traditionalists, which holds that it is every mother's human right and natural desire to have at least a year off after birth. Melanie McDonagh The Times
Full article: Rachida Dati has rejected all the pieties of giving birth
People: Dati maternity row
Returning medals
John Lennon wrote a childish letter with his returned medal: "Your Majesty, I am returning my MBE as a protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts." It's truly remarkable that someone as shallow, spoilt, self-indulgent and naive as a young Beatle can provide an object lesson for our former Prime Minister in what it means to be honourable. George Pitcher Daily Telegraph
Full article: Does Tony Blair deserve a medal?
People: Blair still won't accept his gold medal
Cameron's threadbare Cabinet
I'll let you into a fairly badly kept secret at Westminster. David Cameron is not exactly a fan of almost two thirds of his Shadow Cabinet. Privately, when tackled about which members he rates as serious Cabinet material, he "struggles to get into double digits". In other words, 10. Andrew Pierce Daily Telegraph
Full article: Is George Osborne the impostor in David Cameron's dream team?
America dumps Britain
Don't think we don't see what you're up to, America. We've seen you watching the French, you know. And the Germans. Your tongue is virtually hanging out. It's pathetic. They don't know you like we do. Go, then. You'll be back. Hugo Rifkind The Times
Full article: How can you be so cruel after all we did?
National Health Shambles
Britain, said Nye Bevan when Labour first created the NHS, had seized 'the moral leadership of the world'. How hollow that boast rings today. The shocking case of 43-year-old Martin Ryan, who starved - yes, starved - to death in a British hospital is symbolic of the NHS's failure to cope with the most vulnerable members of society: in this case a patient with learning difficulties. Leader Daily Mail
Full article: A service we should be ashamed of
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