Sports Calendar

Britain doesn’t need a dose of shock therapy

We’ll have to endure some pain over the next few years, but ignore the pundits — the economy isn’t a basket case

• Bill Emmott

Why the sea eagle has no right to land here

This is not about returning birds to ancestral homelands — it’s a costly gimmick to promote meddling ‘conservationists’

• Libby Purves

Let older women have a voice at the BBC

In praise of Polly Toynbee and P.D. James

• William Rees-Mogg

Columnists  

Belching cows can help to rescue our planet

The prodigious methane output of cattle is bad for the environment. But grazing on grass will soak up carbon

• Graham Harvey

We’re picking up the bill for right-to-buy

It’s folly that taxpayers pay for poor families to live in luxury homes. We need more social housing

• Ross Clark

Big Brother gave us the best art of the past decade

It was like Mike Leigh without the socialism

• Igor Toronyi-Lalic

Leading articles

Don't ignore this Al-Qaeda wake-up call

The clues to the Detroit airline bomb attack were there, but the intelligence agencies did not share their information

Our public sector needs rapid surgery

More than 20% of the population work for the state, nearly 1m more than when Labour came to power, and it is easy to see why

A baroness with a mind to murder the DG

A magnificent filleting job was done by P D James on Mark Thompson, demolishing his defence of exorbitant BBC salaries

Faith  

'Good riddance to a gruelling decade'

Dr Rowan Williams says terrorism, war and the financial collapse have bedevilled the past decade in his new year message

Anger as diaries drop religious names

Prayer Book Society calls for a boycott of Letts diaries over publisher's decision to rename the Sundays before Lent

Catholic school condemned over admissions

Cardinal Vaughan School told parts of its admission procedure are 'unlawful' and have the potential for racial discrimination

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

Obituaries  

John Cushnie

Landscape gardener who brought a loamy Ulster brogue and a twinkling wit to Gardeners’ Question Time

Abdurrahman Wahid

Muslim politician who ruled Indonesia for two years after the fall of Suharto in 1999

Julian Fane

Author of 50 books, including Morning and Evening, that were acclaimed for their elegant prose and sensitivity

Join the Debate  

2010

How should we name the new decade?

No Trade in Hostages

The welcome release of a British captive in Iraq cannot obscure the depravity of the crime and the futility of bargaining with kidnappers

Lack of buyers threatens UK housing recovery

New-buyer registrations have fallen, raising prospect of further falls in prices over the next year