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Jerome Taylor: Keith Vaz's familiar outrage cuts no ice with gamers

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:46:24 GMT

For those who play computer games the furore over the latest Call of Duty title is an all too predictable and depressingly familiar controversy. At least once every year a politician – normally one who has never picked up an Xbox controller in their life – howls with outrage and righteous indignation at the latest software release to have upset the moral brigade.

Amol Rajan: Jacqui Janes, The Sun, and a lesson in causality to intrigue us all

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:39:55 GMT

The above is my attempt at a Daily Mail headline. I hope you think it has a sense of accelerating doom as you read it.

John Rentoul: David Miliband's threat to Brown

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:12:46 GMT

Oops. The Times, unexpectedly, this morning asks Number 168 in my series of Questions to Which the Answer is No: Is David Miliband seeking the role of EU foreign minister?

Maureen Coleman: X Factor judge Simon Cowell pulls off a PR master-stroke with Jedward

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:33:22 GMT

He’s been accused of hypocrisy, branded a coward and slated by viewers for saving the Terrible Grimes Twins.

Mary Dejevsky: Cool realism is a political virtue, too

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

When world leaders, past and present, met yesterday at the Brandenburg Gate to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall, many high-flown words were spoken about freedom and unity, miracles and dreams. And if such language cannot be invoked to describe that euphoric night, when can it? There was, and is, no going back.

Leading article: President Obama makes a decent fist of a thankless job

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The odyssey of American healthcare reform should by now have removed any lingering illusions about the difficulty – some would say, the near impossibility – of legislating complex public policy in a system as hedged by checks and balances as that of the US.

Leading article: A vicious and unfair personal attack

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Jacqui Janes was clearly upset by the letter of condolence she received last month from Gordon Brown in the wake of the death of her son, Jamie, in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, it does seem grossly unfair of Ms Janes to interpret the letter as an "insult" from the Prime Minister.

Letters: Immigration and asylum

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

It has been my privilege both to travel the world and act as community liaison here in UK for refugees and asylum seekers ("Johnson: we need debate on migration", 9 November).

Lisa Markwell: Oh dear, what can the batter be?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A town councillor for Falmouth, reacting to the news that Rick Stein has applied to extend his foodie empire to the Cornish town, states "we don't want this town becoming 'Falstein'." Oh really? Padstow (where the chef has several outlets already) has been nicknamed Padstein because it's, er, a pun – which doesn't work for Falmouth, as the more quick-witted of you will have worked out. If it was Gordon Ramsay, maybe Foulmouth might be appropriate, or Bigmouth for Jamie Oliver (who's also making inroads into Cornwall). But Falstein? Nah.

Terence Blacker: Reality TV police shows are criminal

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

This week, as usual, British television viewers will be subjected to an undeclared marketing campaign on behalf of the forces of law and order which amounts to a none-too-subtle type of light brainwashing. The police documentary is now such a staple of the terrestrial and cable TV schedules that variations on the same basic theme are to found every night of the week, in The Force, Sky Cops, Vice Squad or Police Stop!, in Street Law, Traffic Cops, Police Camera Action! and many others.

Wen Jiabao: It's not a clash but a coalition of civilisations that China wants

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Civilisations can be different, but no civilisation is superior to others. Each civilisation embodies the common vision and common aspirations of mankind shaped in the course of development and progress. The Chinese civilisation has long advocated the great ideas that "harmony is most valuable", "seek harmony in diversity" and "do not do unto others what you would not have others do unto you". Similarly, the Islamic civilisation values peace and calls for tolerance. The Koran contains more than 100 references to peace. We should build consensus and seek harmony in a world of diversity and push forward development through exchanges. This is the approach all mankind should embrace in advancing civilisation.

Michael McCarthy: Minor languages, major importance

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Everyone knows what we mean by a troubadour, I imagine. (A sort of generalised wandering minstrel). But the original troubadours were something specific – the first poets in Europe to write in a Romance language, one which had developed from Latin, and they began the European poetic tradition in southern France in the 12th century, writing in what used to be called Provençal (but is now referred to as Occitan).

Michael Brown: Labour are running out of viable options – and people

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

After failing to save the world (again) at the G20 finance ministers' meeting last weekend, with the universal rejection of his international transaction tax, Gordon Brown is now left with fewer than six months to save his skin. Parliament prorogues this week in preparation for the final truncated session before the sands of time force the Prime Minister to face the British people.

Leading article: Closed justice

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Government's dismal push for greater secrecy in public life trundles on. A backbench amendment that would have thrown out the Government's proposals for the replacement of open inquests with secret "inquiries" was narrowly defeated in the Commons yesterday evening.

Dominic Lawson: The only options are to double up in Afghanistan or leave

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

On the first Friday of 2002 – 4 January, to be exact – the Foreign Minister of the new US-backed Afghan government, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, announced that the world's most famous one-eyed Mullah, the Taliban leader Mohammed Omar, was "under siege and surrounded". Dr Abdullah's boss, Hamid Karzai, confidently added that Mullah Omar would be "delivered to the US" to stand trial – presumably on the basis that he had given hospitality and security to Osama bin Laden and the other al-Qa'ida leaders behind the assault on the World Trade Centre.

Dr Neil Stanley: Sleep and success are likely bedfellows

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

There is good evidence that shows that poor sleep can affect academic performance in children and teenagers and can have effects on other important aspects of their development.

Simon Carr: Trust him, he's the Justice Secretary ... Oh, if only we could

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

"There's no reason not to trust me," Jack Straw told the House of Commons. He wouldn't dare say that in public.

John Walsh: 'If a politician lays a wreath at the Cenotaph, it's a mark of respect'

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Prime Minister is so intensely disliked by certain elements of public and press right now, he cannot do anything right. He attends Remembrance Day at the Cenotaph looking solemn and dignified, black tie and poppy carefully in place, lays a wreath, steps back in thoughtful silence – and is abused in the papers next day for failing to bow his head. A "shocked" rent-a-crowd of easily offended protocol sticklers included a confused Dave-from-Lancashire who said, "It was an insult to the fallen." No, Dave. If a politician lays a wreath at the Cenotaph, it's not an insult; it's an expression of respect. And forgetting to adjust your head a certain way indicates you have personal feelings and aren't just going through the motions.

Paul Vale: The Modern Warfare 2 outcry is woefully predictable

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:32:54 GMT

As laughable as it was predictable, MP Keith Vaz has criticised the publication of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a new game from Activision that features scenes of violence and places gamers in scenarios where they are asked to decide whether to kill civilians in order to infiltrate a group of Russian terrorists.

John Rentoul: Defeat from the jaws

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:20:05 GMT

I am completely with Amol Rajan in his contempt for The Sun's "shameful" attempt to exploit a mother's grief in order further to humiliate the Prime Minister.

Amol Rajan: Neither Brown nor we deserve this propaganda

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:16:52 GMT

Iain Dale is essentially right and more measured than I am prepared to be.

Niel Bowerman: It falls to my generation to avert climate catastrophe

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:59:05 GMT

How old will you be in 2050? I will be 63. I don’t yet know what the world will look like in the year 2050, but I do know how my world looked back in 1987, so let me begin there.

John Reid: The enduring implications of the fall of the Berlin Wall

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:56:50 GMT

The fall of the Berlin Wall, on November 9, 1989, was one of history’s truly epochal moments. During what became a revolutionary wave sweeping across the former Eastern Bloc countries, the announcement by the then-East German Government that its citizens could visit West Germany set in train a series of events that led, ultimately, to the demise of the Soviet Union itself.

Leading article: Latin lovers

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Should dead languages be resurrected in our primary schools? Some of the great minds of English literature have advised against it. George Orwell doubted "whether classical education ever has been or can be successfully carried out without corporal punishment". William Hazlitt said: "Anyone who has passed through the regular gradations of a classical education, and is not made a fool by it, may consider himself as having had a very narrow escape."

Letters: Organ donation

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Royal College of Physicians is right to propose a three-way mandated choice for organ donation. The growing shortfall of organs for transplant imposes on us a moral obligation to consider new ways to increase the number of donors.