BLOGS

A nation in thrall to the tyranny of tears

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That popular British sport, the mass back-pedal, is back in fashion this week. Bob Geldof is not a saint. The question of world poverty is not as straightforward as it seemed. It was not necessarily a good thing to allow...

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Give us our daily supply of outrage

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Signed any good petitions recently? There is a whole range of causes that concerned citizens are able to support or oppose by going online and adding their names to a list. The Save Our Post Offices petition urgently needs support....

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The bishop and his daring suggestion

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Under the deceptively calm leadership of Dr Rowan Williams, the Church of England is going through one of its proactive phases. Whenever some new survey causes a fuss about the way society is going, there will be a bishop, one...

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Can a public figure any longer be a serious person?

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There was a time not so long ago when most of those in public and private life could be divided into players and referees. The players saw individualism and flair as the keys to forward progress, while for the refs,...

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Harry Potter and the childish politician

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The good news is that Gordon Brown has broken with the recent tradition which requires party leaders to name Ian McEwan as their favourite novelist. Rather less welcome is the revelation that one of the first things he will do...

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Being wasteful is not a personal liberty

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We are being watched from every street corner. Those slightly creepy men from Google are turning our computers into domestic spies. But the surveillance that really has the British people worried, at least if one believes reports in the family-values...

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Wanted: adulterers, slobs and sadists…

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A lucrative double vacancy for ambitious media professionals has just become available. No outstanding writing skills are required but the two applicants should have a high threshold for personal embarrassment. They will also need to be a married couple and...

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Are the bald ready for the trauma of hair?

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It sounds enticingly simple. A snip of epidermis will be removed from the scalp. The activity will stimulate cell activity including the regeneration of hair follicles. If the effect of a gene called wnt is boosted, hair could well begin...

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The world according to Sir Alan Sugar? Now there’s a thought

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Out of date, middle-class and generally a bit mimsy: the verdict of a focus group on the Today programme's Thought for the Day was so unambiguous that not even the BBC could ignore it. Will its replacement in the "God...

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You’ve seen the Pink List – now here’s the Grey List

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It was a marvellous thing, the Independent on Sunday's recently published Pink List, which graded the 100 most important gay people in the country in order of influence. Sexual preference is now such an important part of our culture that...

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Writer's Shed

On...