Commentators

Deborah Orr: One more inquiry isn't going to help

I don't believe a public inquiry into the Baby P case is necessary. I think the failings in Haringey are already perfectly clear. Why should they not be? They are, after all, the same failings that are revealed in almost every public inquiry, into almost every public service dereliction.

Inside Commentators

Hamish McRae: It will take time, but we'll recover

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

If officialdom seems over-optimistic in its forecasts, the markets seem too pessimistic

Michael Gove: We need a Swedish education system

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

We would encourage new schools in areas of disadvantage

Mark Steel: Never mind the baby, just get back to work

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

The next thing will be an exciting new scheme known as the 'workhouse'

Penny de Valk: 'Paradigm' might be a stupid word, but it can also be a useful one

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

It's a wonderful piece of New Age jargon, I know, but the reality is that the economic and social shifts we are experiencing are a paradigm shift. So here is a story about paradigms.

Janet Street-Porter: Mother does not always know best

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

Memories of childhood are always subjective, and one of the most sensitive subjects for writers is the mother-daughter relationship. The final taboo is shattered if you dare to tell the world your mother was a nightmare to live with. We are conditioned to pretend that mum always knew best, that mum had our best interests at heart, and that mum loved us unconditionally. But for thousands of women, that's not true. I know, because a few years ago I wrote a book in which I dared to criticise my mother, provoking reactions, from shock to sympathy. I received hundreds of letters from women (and men) who said they had been cheered up just to know they were not the only people they knew who couldn't stand their mother.

Basildon Peta: It should be the tipping point for the tyrant – but this is Zimbabwe

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

Until it happened, the sight of Robert Mugabe's loyal soldiers rampaging against his regime was unthinkable. So surely their unprecedented actions ought to be the tipping point for the 84-year-old tyrant. But in the weird world that cynics call Mugabeland, things are never straight forward.