Sports Calendar

My dad is for life

If this is going to be his last Christmas, I’ve been wondering: what do you give a dying dad for Christmas?

• Cosmo Landesman

Fix Britain by doing nothing

One of this country’s most serious (and most expensive) problems is that there is too much that doesn’t matter going on

• Minette Marrin

Whatever... Cameron gets No 10

Who will win the election? That’s hard to answer. Who will be prime minister after it? That's easier: David Cameron

• Michael Portillo

Columnists  

Guilt and pain all wrapped up in gifts

Gifts are never just about the acquisition of things. Each one carries a message and brings a sense of obligation

• Jenni Russell

William inherits the people's crown

Seeing Prince William sleeping rough to help the homeless evoked a sense of déjà vu for anyone old enough to remember his mother

• Melanie McDonagh

Brown can build his green legacy on coral reefs

Labour has the opportunity to create a legacy as great as Yellowstone national park, but can they pull it off?

• Charles Clover

Leading articles

Unfinished business: the task for 2010

The transport chaos that preceded Christmas was a fitting epitaph for a year that many would prefer to forget

Why was this bomber allowed to fly?

Terrorism in the skies was not something that we discovered in the past decade but it took on a new and worrying dimension

Person of the Year

Neda Soltan, killed by a government thug, became a symbol of Iranians’ yearning for democracy and the ruthlessness of a bankrupt regime

Faith  

Vatican defends sainthood move for wartime pope

Jewish groups have reacted angrily to the current Pope’s approval of a decree recognising the 'heroic virtues' of Pius XII

Santiago braces itself for the Holy Year bonanza

The pilgrimage to the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostela is experiencing its greatest popularity since the Middle Ages

Rural idyll where priest lived in fear

Mutterings of dark forces after rector says he was bullied

'Shakespeare was a secret Catholic’

Mysterious signatures at a Catholic college in Rome suggest that the playwright sought refuge there during his “missing years”

Obituaries  

Terry Lawless

British boxing manager who took four fighters to world titles as well as coaching future champions Frank Bruno and Lloyd Honeyghan

Georgina Parkinson

Ballerina for whom Ashton and MacMillan created roles and ballet mistress of American Ballet Theatre

Mike Richey

Expert on astro-navigation whose nonchalant transatlantic voyages in the tiny yacht Jester inspired generations of solo sailors

Duncan Paterson

Rugby player, national team manager and administrator whose try and dropped goal helped Scotland to defeat England at Twickenham

Join the Debate  

Tories deny wanting 'licence to kill burglars'

Lawyers say it would be unwise to go beyond allowing people to use "reasonable force" to protect themselves and their homes

Arlene Phillips speaks out on losing TV job

The former Strictly judge reveals how she rebuilt her confidence after being dropped from the show in favour of Alesha Dixon

Labour faces wipe-out if it waits till May

But if Gordon Brown goes to the polls in March his prospects, though better, are still bleak