Gaza’s misery does not make Israel safer

As far as we know, nine people died in international waters off the coast of Gaza under circumstances that demand an inquiry. This must be an inquiry that Israelis, Palestinians and, above all, the people of Turkey can believe in

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Gaza’s misery does not make Israel safer

All we are saying is give Field a chance

A favourite kitchen-table game is this recessionary pastime, more stimulating than I-Spy: each player announces, with appropriate fervour, which items of public expenditure should be cut. Whereon each of the others raises objections, backed up with imaginary shock-horror newspaper headlines

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All we are saying is give Field a chance

Where now for the crisis-hit European Left?

Political labels such as left and right, we told ourselves when the Cold War ended two decades ago, are now meaningless. Yet we still use them, pondering endlessly which of the Eds, Miliband or Balls, is the most “left-wing” of the candidates to lead Labour.

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Where now for the crisis-hit European Left?

I think it’s all over for the WAGs

The thing about having boys is that no matter how resistant you were to start off with, you eventually become interested in football. It happens by osmosis (see also the minutiae of dinosaur life and the names of every single Thomas the Tank Engine “character”). So I’m rather looking forward to the World Cup but I don’t know whether this is because resistance has finally been broken completely or whether it is due to the fact that Wags seem to be hurtling towards extinction faster than you can say “French pedicure”.

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I think it’s all over for the WAGs

Oi, townies – don’t treat Mr Fox as a pet

When I lived in London a couple of years back, we had a fox resident in our street. This was Dulwich, so his name was probably Giles or Oliver. A fellow a few doors down from me, who worked in marketing, used to feed him every evening with organic free-range chicken cutlets served from a Heal’s dinner plate; there was almost certainly a rocket side salad and moutabal dip with roasted pine kernels, and a chilled chablis.

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Oi, townies – don’t treat Mr Fox as a pet

To cut poverty, we must cut also welfare

Oh dear, Frank Field has only gone and thought the unthinkable, again. Appointed last week as the coalition’s “poverty czar”, the man asked to “think the unthinkable” by Tony Blair as minister for welfare reform (and then sacked for taking this remit seriously) promptly observed that the nation’s officially sanctified target for poverty reduction was “almost mathematically unobtainable” and therefore redundant.

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To cut poverty, we must cut also welfare

They must know our mission is doomed

David Cameron has picked a fine time to make his Afghan debut. Convoy torched; helicopter shot down; the two security advisers to President Karzai whom the West most trusts resigned; and 29 Nato and British servicemen killed in nine days.

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They must know our mission is doomed

Nought to 60 seconds for a mere 250 grand

A Swiss company called Cabestan (which sounds like the imaginary Central Asian republic that London taxi drivers think minicab drivers come from) has, I gather, finally produced the wristwatch the world has been waiting for: the Scuderia Ferrari One.

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Nought to 60 seconds for a mere 250 grand

It’s a myth that big sporting events boost the economy

In the small town of Mogwase, not far from Rustenburg, where England will play their first world Cup match tonight, local schoolchildren are benefiting from newly laid football pitches, which will be one of the legacies of the World Cup 2010. Expect to see a number of uplifting stories of investment and legacy over the next four weeks, most of which will carry the Fifa logo.

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It’s a myth that big sporting events boost the economy

Pornographers and parents should unite

Is the internet part of society or does it transcend it? Is it a glorious, anarchic pirate empire of images and information that recognises no national boundaries, is unaccountable to any government and has no morality or responsiblity?

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Pornographers and parents should unite

I’m off to the World Cup. I’ve updated my will

Mark Twain once said there’d been a lot of terrible things in his life but most of them didn’t happen. Thus lives the worrier. I’m about to fly out to the World Cup in South Africa and I’m a bit frightened

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I’m off to the World Cup. I’ve updated my will

The clock is ticking. Iran must come to the table

This week the UN Security Council sent a strong signal to Iran that the world will not walk away in the face of its refusal to negotiate over its nuclear programme. The new resolution is a statement of resolve and determination that the new British Government welcomes and played a leading role in bringing about. Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the 2009 Iranian presidential elections and the dramatic scenes that followed

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The clock is ticking. Iran must come to the table

That’s enough ‘kicking ass’, Mr President

The great British love-in with Barack Obama may be coming to an end. While there has been deep understanding of the environmental catastrophe that has struck the United States and of BP’s responsibility, there is also growing concern that the President’s angry rhetoric is going over the top and risks dividing the United States and the United Kingdom.

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That’s enough ‘kicking ass’, Mr President

Debby Ryan 17th Birthday Gifts & Wishes on Radio Disney’s Celebrity Take with Jake

Debby Ryan shows off her cutest b-day gift! For more, go to radiodisney.com

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Debby Ryan 17th Birthday Gifts & Wishes on Radio Disney’s Celebrity Take with Jake