Human Nature : Condoms, Needles, and Iranian Moderates
An interesting blog piece about contraception and drug treatment initiatives in Iran. Remarkably liberal compared to many Western countries.

The Israel-Iran phoney war took a dramatic turn last week when Transport minister Shaul Mofaz said that if Iran’s nuclear weapons programme continues, Israel will attack. Mofaz is one of three deputy Prime Ministers with pretensions to the current incumbent Ehud Olmert’s position. Though Israel attacked Saddam’s Iraq in 1981 in similar circumstances, the […]

Violence on the Left: Nandigram and the Communists of West Bengal
A lengthy piece by Martha Nussbaum on the violent corruption of the Communist government of West Bengal and the shameful attempts of people like Noam Chomsky to excuse them in the name of ‘leftist solidarity’. Sounds like the 1930s all over again.

42-day detention: the threat to our liberty | John Major - Times Online
An admirable opinion piece from none other than John Major decrying the New Labour government’s intended introduction of 42-day pre-charge detention (six times as long as that enjoyed by the Turkish police, one might add)

Dear me, the Guardian, like a dear but cantankerous old friend, continues to exasperate much as one loves it. It remains, along with the FT, the best of the English newspapers (my relative unfamiliarity with Scottish and Welsh papers prevents me from saying ‘British’) but it can also madden with its one-note, one-dimensional coverage of […]

A surprise from Cannes, the host country got its first Palme d’Or since Maurice Pialat’s Sous le soleil de Satan in 1987. The winner was Laurent Cantet for Entre les murs (known in English as The Class) an adaptation of Parisian teacher and Cahiers du Cinéma critic François Bégaudeau’s novel of two years ago. The […]

The Stupidity of Dignity
Stephen Pinker on the publication of Human Dignity and Bioethics, a seemingly dubious report by President Bush’s Council on Bioethics. Let’s say it’s heavily influenced by the Bible…

Churchill and His Myths - The New York Review of Books
Geoffrey Wheatcroft on a clutch of books about Churchill and the Second World War. Suprisingly clear-eyed piece

Mousetrap Technology - Times Online - WBLG: The Google Street View car causes a stir in Rome
Google’s Street View mapping vehicle alarms Roman citizens, who presume it to be part of a fascist crackdown. Google playing good cop to Gianni Alemano’s bad cop.

U.S. Jews’ Relationship With Israel Evolves - washingtonpost.com
Washington Post article that chronicles what may be the beginning of a counter-AIPAC movement among American Jews