Smash Hit

Tear down this wall! And save the planet

There are urgent parallels between the fall of Communism and the fight to stop climate change

• Mikhail Gorbachev

The key to rubbing along in perfect harmony

Authoritarianism is a sin of religiosity: believers need to heed the Jewish experience about respecting the secular majority

• Libby Purves

Double click if you want the bin emptied

Notebook: If you give a man a household chore, just leave him to get on with it

• Michael Gove

Columnists  

Which will come top: paper or gold?

Printing presses have been pumping out dollars and pounds. Little wonder many are seeking a more trusty store of value

• William Rees-Mogg

Why Africa welcomes the ‘new colonialism’

Beijing is enjoying its burgeoning power. But it should tread carefully: the continent has a habit of frustrating grand plans

• Richard Dowden

Have you got permission to read this?

Permits and licences are the enemy of freedom

• Tim Worstall

Leading articles

Over the Wall

The fall of the Berlin Wall was hailed as the dawn of a new freedom. Twenty years on, plenty still remains to do to realise those hopes in half of Europe

Received Wisdom

The Tories have taken good education ideas that the Government no longer wants

Casting A Spell

Skemes to reeform dhe zpellin ov dhe langgweg az an instrooment are piffle-poffle

Faith  

Atheist Hirst to display paintings in church

The controversial artist will emulate the old masters by painting two 20ft-high religious works for display in St Paul’s

Reaction from UK mosques

Worshippers at one of the UK's biggest mosques said Muslims who serve are complicit in killing their ‘brothers and sisters’

Air turns blue round TV's new comic vicar

Strong language will feature in the BBC's after-the-watershed satire on the tribulations of an inner-city parish

Priests to perform second album in Liverpool

Trio will perform from their new album, Harmony, after a year of combining parish duties with global fame and fortune

Obituaries  

Staff-Sergeant Olaf Schmid

Brave bomb disposal specialist whose professionalism saved the lives of many British soldiers in Afghanistan

Tom Blumenau

Clothing entrepreneur whose dedication to the cause of human rights led him to serve, and raise funds for, Amnesty International

Angus Hornby

Dean of the Bristol University Faculty of Law whose scholarly credentials made him part of a newer breed of legal academic leaders

Ruth Duckworth

Innovative and influential potter who became a sculptor in clay with work that ranged from fine porcelain to sculptures and large murals

Join the Debate  

Thanks for the MBE, Ma'am, any sausages with that?

Butcher who keeps a biro behind his ear to take orders kept it there on Palace visit in case the Queen needed any meat

Muzzles won't do: dogs are weapons

They terrorise estates and their numbers are rocketing. We need a bold approach to the problem

Watchdog to overhaul Oxbridge admissions

Fresh review is aimed at the 16 elite universities to improve access for poorer students, government sources say

Couple's desperate message before pirate kidnap

Paul and Rachel Chandler posted a mysterious entry on their blog before setting off their boat’s distress beacon