The Independent - Opinion RSS Feed

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Freedom of speech can't be unlimited

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:30 GMT

Libertarians and free expression campaigners were jubilant last week. An obscenity case was due to be heard against Darryn Walker, a 35-year-old civil servant who had posted an essay on a website, titled Girls (scream) Aloud, imagining the sexual torture and mutilation of the each of the women who make up the pop group.

Rupert Cornwell: Little hope of a new start with Russia

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The American Vice President, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, want to press the "reset" button in US relations with Russia, after the tensions of the later Bush years. Alas, President Barack Obama's trip to Moscow is likely to prove how difficult this will be, especially when an authoritarian regime in the Kremlin hankers for Soviet-era "parity" with the US.

Leading article: Obama must take this chance to reset relations with Russia

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Barack Obama has set off for Moscow for two days of talks with the Kremlin that could be a last chance to put American-Russia relations on a new, productive footing. The Russian visit – President Obama's first – follows years of escalating tension during the Bush years over, among other issues, the Caucasus, Nato expansion, Kosovo and Iran. Both sides have increasingly resorted to unilateral moves aimed at marking out territory as "no-go" areas for the other side.

Leading article: The bishop is embracing a lost cause

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Ear-splitting rows are part of the warp and woof of the Church of England – the price paid for a Church that has always claimed to be national and inclusive rather than dogmatic.

Leading article: Splendour on the grass

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

And to think that millions of us regarded the prospect of a Wimbledon men's singles final without Andy Murray in it as an anti-climax. By half-past six yesterday evening, a new chapter had been written in the annals of sporting epics, and there was only one Andy in anyone's thoughts – Andy Roddick, the big-serving American who in eventually yielding to Roger Federer in a fifth set of unprecedented drama redefined the concept of the gallant loser.

Daniel Howden: I ran for fun. But my friend Elijah didn't

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

In many respects, Elijah and I had the same preparation for the Lewa half-marathon. We both did training runs every day in the build-up. We travelled up to the spectacular game reserve in the shadow of Mount Kenya in the same vehicle.

Sergey Lavrov: Now is the time for Russia and the US to cease to be adversaries

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

There is a new dynamic in Russia-US relations - a positive change that reflects the imperatives of these challenging times. The "London spirit" of the first meeting of presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama in London revitalized the equality, mutual respect, and mutual benefit that must form the basis of our two countries' cooperation. These are fundamental first steps. As President Medvedev has noted, a crisis of trust developed between us in recent years. Our political relationship became too adversarial. Overcoming this legacy will take time. So Russia and the US must jointly manage expectations to ensure that attempts to "reset" our relationship succeed. This does not mean shying away from setting ambitious goals. But it does require a sober assessment of what is really possible, and the time it will take to accomplish these goals.

Dom Joly: Lobsters, Serena and a glum Sir Cliff

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

It's been a crazy week – I've been ensconced in the bowels of Wimbledon working for Radio Five Live. In between long periods in a tiny booth on Centre Court I have mainly been patrolling Henman Hill, or Murray Mount/Mound/Mountain.

Philip Hensher: Forget about a 'cure' for homosexuality

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

It grows increasingly hard to tell the difference between bishops of the Church of England and Paris Hilton. Bishops used to be thoughtful, retiring people, happy to spread the word of God through bring-and-buy sales, the Mothers' Union and the occasional sermon. Nowadays, some of them have been bitten by the bug of publicity, and they just can't seem to shut up.

Anthony Lester: End the legal uncertainty over assisted suicide

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Whatever our religious faith or lack of faith, we all hope that we and our loved ones will have a happy, healthy long life. We all hope that, as our lives come to an end, we will be well cared for and will die peacefully and with dignity.

Letters: Jackson's child victims

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

At last, a sensible article on the death of Michael Jackson, devoid of the hagiography favoured by other writers ("Bad, and very dangerous", 4 July). Over the past week I have been concerned about the effect that such articles would have had on those young men who were victims of abuse by the "troubled" singer. As John Niven notes, these children are unlikely to have lied about their experiences at Jackson's hands, and yet the world's media seemed set on ignoring what they went through. To me, this compounds the crime committed against them.

Rupert Cornwell: Little hope of a new start with Russia

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Michael Axworthy: The clerics are angry at this unifying lie

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The social anthropologist Ernest Gellner wrote about the unifying power of falsehood. Truths are available to all, and thereby become trivial. But belief in an absurdity demands greater commitment, and collective commitment to an absurdity can thereby become a powerful binding-force.

Vince Cable: Government cannot wash its hands of tax

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

I am not surprised to discover that leading accountants are advising high earners in the City how to reduce the tax they pay on their bonuses. That is what tax accountants do. And that is what bankers do. Neither profession is affiliated to the Boy Scouts.

Bruce Anderson: It will take dynamite to remove Gordon Brown from No 10

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Tony Blair did not only mislead us about Saddam Hussein's weaponry. He was equally wrong about Gordon Brown's. Remember the Great Clunking Fist? At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, David Cameron behaved like an old-fashioned schoolmaster dealing with a slow and sullen pupil. "Brown, how many times do I have to tell you..." These days, the Tories' main worry about PMQs is that Mr Cameron will come across as cruel. Labour MPs, who were hoping to revel in the clunking, are now reduced to whining about public-school bullies.

Simon Carr: Who's rich when others are richer?

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Inequality. How are we handling that? The recent research from the Fabian Society suggests the public are well ahead – or well behind – informed opinion. People seem generally to accept the idea of "fairly deserved inequality". The very rich, it is assumed, have more money because they are cleverer and work harder than people on benefits. It may or may not be true, but it's what people believe.

Sarah Sands: Passion, drama, agony: a British institution in the making

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

On Friday evening, even as Scotland's latest most famous son saw his dreams dissolve at Wimbledon, the country's adopted daughter played out hers at Leicester Square.

Matthew Bell: The IoS Diary

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

It could be grounds for divorce. Anthony Seldon has reneged on a promise to his wife never to write another book about a prime minister. The headmaster of Wellington made the pledge on the final page of Blair Unbound, his 2007 biography of Tony Blair, apologising for the 18-hour days he worked, but I can reveal he is embarking on a book about Gordon Brown, called Brown at Ten, to be published in October 2010. Seldon says his book is not a biography but will be about the 10 turning points in Brown's premiership: "Oh my goodness, I thought I said I wouldn't write a biography," he splutters when I call, "I have some work to do with Joanna. Although she seemed all right about the book when I mentioned it. There will be a lot of flowers coming her way."

Joan Smith: Nothing 'great' about Biggs's train robbery crime

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

I don't know whether Bruce Reynolds or Ronnie Biggs ever came across WH Auden's poem "Night Mail". In rattling stanzas, Auden evoked the rhythm and romance of a mail train hurrying across the country at night, carrying "letters for the rich, letters for the poor". Unfortunately for the driver of just such a train in August 1963, his coaches were also loaded with a huge quantity of banknotes, which Reynolds and his gang had their eye on. As the train approached a set of signals in Buckinghamshire which were usually green, the driver – Jack Mills, 58, who had taken over the controls at Crewe – was surprised to see first amber and then a red "stop" light. The signals had been changed by the robbers, who swarmed aboard in ski masks when the train halted.

IoS letters, emails & texts (5 July 2009)

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

I am writing to express concern about the cover story in last Sunday's New Review ("The war zone"). It offers a stark portrayal of a local community that I simply do not recognise – despite the fact that I work here.

Peter Tatchell: Go on, Dave. If you're really sorry about gay rights, prove it

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

David Cameron has done an extraordinary thing. He apologised last week for the homophobia of his own party, singling out Section 28, the Thatcher government's infamous ban on the "promotion" of homosexuality by local authorities.

Patrick Cockburn: A man of brutality and arrogance who knew how to play to American suspicions

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The Saddam Hussein interviews are interesting for what they reveal and what they conceal. Probably right up to the end, Saddam was talking up the Iranian threat to Iraq, knowing that this would confirm American suspicions of Iran. The Iraqi leader would recall that a joint front against Iran had been the basis of Iraqi-American co-operation in the 1980s.

Gordon Brown: No one in the world should have to go hungry – we need to act now

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

My first experience of campaigning was volunteering for the Freedom from Hunger movement as a schoolboy.

Rupert Cornwell: In praise of the redoubtable Mrs Sanford

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Some scandals involving sex and American politicians make you cringe – for instance John Edwards' infidelity while running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, at a time when his wife was battling cancer. Others astonish by their hypocrisy, as when Eliot Spitzer, sanctimonious governor of New York and high-minded scourge of Wall Street, was caught last year patronising a high-priced call girl.

Editor-At-Large: Graduates leave with more debts than knowledge

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

On Friday I attended a moving ceremony in Maidstone. Hundreds of graduates of all ages, ethnic backgrounds and social backgrounds patiently queued up to receive their degrees from the University of Creative Arts, where the pass rate is a highly commendable 92 per cent.