What is the Israeli endgame?
Is Israel's ultimate objective the fall of Hamas in Gaza? Or is Israel maintaining military pressure on Hamas in order to conclude the operation with a set of de facto ceasefire arrangements intended to prevent Hamas re-arming? The Israeli cabinet is divided. No coherent plan for the replacement of Hamas has been outlined. It is generally accepted that carrying out a military operation intended to topple Hamas would require the mobilisation of further reservists, and a time frame of several weeks, would probably entail considerable Israeli loss of life and could end with an Israeli re-occupation of the Gaza Strip. Ehud Olmert is unlikely to be thinking along these lines. Jonathan Spyer The Guardian
Full article: What is Israel's endgame in Gaza? 
Gaza File: Split in Israel cabinet reported as 'war crimes' concerns grow
In pictures: Gaza barrage continues
Gaza propaganda war escalates on the internet
Being tough on immigration
Labour's Phil Woolas: "It's assumed that Labour is soft on immigration. In actual fact the largest influxes of migrants into this country came during Conservative periods of government - if you look at the 1950s and early 1960s and indeed the situation with Eastern Africa." "The situation with Eastern Africa"? He means the time when the Kenyan and Ugandan Asians were expelled, and arrived in a Britain for which they had passports, where they were called 'Paki', and where they became some of the most successful and dynamic citizens this nation has possessed. And this is used by a Labour minister, a Labour minister, to attack past Conservative governments for softness on immigration! I wanted to throw up. David Aaronovitch The Times
Full article: A revolting parade of who can look toughest
Racism in the army
I spoke to a young British army officer yesterday about the [Prince Harry] incident; he said that, yes, Pakistani cadets were frequently called 'Pakis', Irish ones were called 'Micks' and black cadets were often called 'Chalky'. He added that it was perfectly obvious when someone was being racist, that this was indeed unacceptable, but that it was very easy to distinguish between such behaviour and banter between friends. It seems however, that the press and politicians lack this form of emotional intelligence altogether - or, which is worse, pretend that they do, out of sheer cowardice. There is one thing that worries me about moral standards among young men in the British Army, however: that it could contain the sort of person who would betray a colleague for the sake of a cheque from the News of the World. Dominic Lawson The Independent
Full article: Prince Harry, and the cowardice of those on the political front line
Turn off your Aga
A large Aga running on coal turns out nine tonnes of carbon dioxide per year: five and a half times the total CO2 production of the average UK home. To match that, the patio heater would have to burn for nine months. So where is the campaign against Agas? There isn't one. I've lost count of the number of aspirational middle-class greens I know who own one of these monsters and believe that they are somehow compatible (perhaps because they look good in a country kitchen) with a green lifestyle. The campaign against Agas - which starts here - will divide rich greens down the middle. George Monbiot The Guardian
Full article: This is indeed a class war, and the campaign against the Aga starts here
Labour can only create non-jobs
If there was one lesson that Britain learned in the Seventies it was that governments can never, ever create jobs, writes Peter Oborne. Governments can certainly create non-jobs. Gordon Brown's Government is superbly good at this form of job creation. Consider some of the public sector appointments which have been advertised over recent months. Head of Communities and Partnership (£35,000 a year) at Charnwood Borough Council. Communications and Strategy Manager (£35,000 a year) at Allerdale Borough Council. Public Affairs Manager (£40,000-plus) at Histon near Cambridge. None of these jobs - or the thousands like them - have any connection with the real economy. All of them pay well over the national average wage. Thanks to Mr Brown's 'fiscal stimulus', jobs like these will continue to churn off the Whitehall production line - while the private sector faces bankruptcy. Peter Oborne Daily Mail
Full article: If you want to know what's wrong with Gordon Brown's masterplan, remind yourself what this man did to Britain
In Brief
Guts are for eating
In his final weeks in power Mr Bush has warmed to the theme of having done what he considered right, not what was popular. He prided himself on taking decisions on gut instinct. But given the failures of foreign policy, the mismanagement of two wars, the obstinate refusal to embrace science or tackle climate change and the unravelling of the economy, the lesson of the Bush presidency is surely that the gut is for digestion, not decision-making. Mr Bush's convictions were strong, but too often they were wrong. Leader the Times
Full article: A failure to reflect
Matthew Carr: Farewell to a disreputable double-act
They’re watching you
The strongest face-recognition algorithms are now considered more accurate than most humans - and already the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers have held discussions about the possibility of linking such systems with automatic car-numberplate recognition and public-transport databases. Join everything together via the internet, and voilà - the nation's population, down to the individual Times reader, can be conveniently and automatically monitored in real time. David Rowan The Times
Full article: Let's face it, soon Big Brother will have no trouble recognising you
US-Japanese alliance
We say goodbye to the global strategist whose sunny optimism still persuades him that Japan and America have "had a peaceful alliance for 150 years" – something of a revelation, one imagines, to the people of Pearl Harbour or Hiroshima. Boris Johnson Daily Telegraph
Full article: George W Bush was not alone in the premier league of bungling
Geyser of gush
Get your umbrellas unfurled, for here comes the annual geyser of gush as the big stars of stage, screen and television prepare to make acceptance speeches hosed down in treacle and self-congratulation. They will talk about how hard they have had to fight, although they never mention any specific battles. Fight what? Or who? And where? It has always been a mystery to me. Jan Moir Daily Mail
Full article: Oh, do put a gong in it! Do us all a favour and dry up
Barack’s labradoodle
The world's coolest guy is about to become leader of the free world and what does he do? He buys a labradoodle. Dogs have made idiots of their owners throughout history, but now real, grown-up people can be heard saying, in polite society, 'She's a Cavachon' (half cavalier spaniel/half bichon frisé) or "Actually, he's a Cockerpoo" (cocker spaniel/poodle). What do you get when you cross a bulldog with a shitzu? Exactly. Gill Hornby Daily Telegraph
Full article: A labradoodle is for idiots, not for presidents, Barack Obama
First Puppy: two breeds left in the four-legged race for the White House
It couldn’t be you
In Britain, birth is destiny for almost everyone. Where you are born is where most people stay. Family finance predicts what will happen to most children. Rags to riches celebrity stories dominate popular imagery, but the "it could be you" social lottery fantasy is mostly a convenient lie to keep everyone in their place. Polly Toynbee The Guardian
Full article: Harman's law is Labour's biggest idea for 11 years
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