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Robert Fisk: The German Lawrence of Arabia had much to live up to – and failed

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:26:39 GMT

His name was Captain Leo Frobenius and he was the German Lawrence of Arabia, tasked to start an Arab Muslim insurgency against British rule in Sudan and Egypt.

Cannabis: it’s time to stop the lies and start a rational debate

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:59:35 GMT

It doesn't require a Leap of faith to support the growing calls for a radical rethink of policy on drugs and in particular on the decriminalisation of cannabis.

Was Bill seeing double in land of make-believe?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:54:58 GMT

Like most people in the West, I'm a great admirer of North Korea. It's really pretty hard to beat for comedy.

Why I just can’t get my head round a halibut

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:47:03 GMT

My handwriting is just awful. A piece of paper beside my laptop has “halibut” written on it.

How sad to see Stephen Fry getting his knickers in a Twitter over his social networking website

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:46:01 GMT

You take your sanity in your hands on that internet.

When money talks, and walks, then retailers have to lose out

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:43:00 GMT

You’ve got to feel sorry for many of the retailers south of the border.

How the Chinese always make it a White Christmas

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:25:52 GMT

While the rest of us were going about our usual small scale climate change recycling business this week — depositing a couple of pasta jars in the bottle bank, knitting a jumper from plastic bags, watering the begonias with used bathwater — China threw caution to the wind and struck a truly thunderous blow against global warming

Here’s another suggestion Caitriona, sort it out!

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:21:10 GMT

The latest twist in the academic selection debate seems to be a growing consensus that while testing at 11 may be taboo, selection at 14 could be a good thing.

Mark Steel: Why should I be pressured into wearing a poppy?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:51:11 GMT

It's Poppy Week, which means if you don't wear a poppy all week you're a filthy, dirty, low-life, scummy traitor. Yesterday, there was outrage in newspapers because a library in Derbyshire would not sell poppies, and a headline in the sports section of the Daily Mail complained: "Why are only 12 Premier League clubs wearing their poppies?"

Robert Fisk: US performing its familiar role of propping up a dictator

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:39:29 GMT

Could there be a more accurate description of the Obama-Brown message of congratulations to the fraudulently elected Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan?

Why it’s v v sad that we don’t talk anymore

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:55:13 GMT

Stephen Fry is considering leaving Twitter, following an unpleasant spat with a fellow Twit. Now, I'll fess up that I don't really know what Twitter is. I'm told it's a kind of internet texting thing but I'm not sure.

Rebecca sets gold standard

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:53:41 GMT

Well done Rebecca Adlington.

Cut above the rest - Victoria Beckham

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:52:06 GMT

Why are people always so sneery about Victoria Beckham?

We're stuck with the Assembly . . . and it's no laughing matter

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

A few evenings ago the Minister of Health at Stormont, Michael McGimpsey, was to be seen on the television news offering his audience what he termed a 'joke'.

Bruce Anderson: Legalise drugs and society would benefit

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:43:13 GMT

It appears to be impossible to have a rational debate about drugs. David Nutt, the head of the government's advisory council on drugs, argued that alcohol and tobacco were more dangerous than some drugs which are currently illegal.

Manufacture of social, political and historical denial

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:00:10 GMT

Amira Hass was spot on when she said last week that her lifetime women's award was an award for failure.

Sacking the expert is not the right way to tackle drugs

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:47:53 GMT

Government Ministers and health quangos may as well give up warning about the evils of drugs.

Bring the legal aid dispute back to the real world

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:44:32 GMT

It has been fun watching spokesmen for our solicitors and barristers complaining how any cuts to the level of legal aid in Northern Ireland could either leave them all heading for the poor house or else practising other, more lucrative, areas of the law.

Why Maze stadium decision is a blow for integrated sport

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:00:00 GMT

So the Maze stadium is dust. I should have listened to my great friend Malcolm Brodie in the first place. After he read my column supporting the Maze project, he told me I was up a gum tree. It would never happen, he said.

I know who’s to blame for game ending

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:33:29 GMT

BBC Northern Ireland has served us well over the years I think. While other regions and networks can often appear amateur and provincial, the quality of its television programmes is usually of an impressively high standard on par with its national equivalents.

Seamus is a poet, but not as you’d know it

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:29:42 GMT

Congratulations and a hearty slap on the back to Belfast poet and rap artist Seamus Fox for winning the All-Ireland Poetry Slam Championship Finals in Galway this week. If his recent form is anything to go by then the accolade is certainly well-deserved and long-overdue.

EU President? I would cross the street if I saw Tony Blair coming

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:00:00 GMT

It would surely be perverse of Radovan Karadzic to challenge Tony Blair for the presidency of the EU and risk splitting the war criminal's vote.

Mark Steel: This is what Tony Blair does: he wrecks a place, then gets the job of uniting it

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:37:00 GMT

Blair can't really become President of Europe, can he? There must be millions of us who've been slowly managing to forget about him for the last two years, recovering as he fades into the past, the way torture victims rebuild their lives day by day, and now this dreadful figure we thought had gone forever might be back ruling us again.

Is Lady Sylvia a stranger on the shore in party’s future vision?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:16:33 GMT

It was the political equivalent of the Princess Diana-alone-at-the-Taj-Mahal moment.

How odious Griffin scored TV publicity coup

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:14:07 GMT

What next for Nick Griffin? A turn on Strictly Come Dancing?