News Reports Archive December 2008
If You Are Looking for a New Year's Resolution, Try This One: Never, Ever Date a Swinger
TV Matters
From Plumbers' Stores to Lidl Car Parks: Where Green Shoots Sprout
Radio Review
My Sporting Heroes of 2008
Year of Living Dangerously
How Hamilton Held His Icy Nerve to Make History on the Final Bend
What Not to Miss in 2009
A Harsh Year Ahead, But Don't Lose Hope
We Need a Moral Vision As Well As Money to Rebuild Britain
Who Can Resist the Urge to Splurge?
Let's Look Back on the Year to Come
Pinter Was Powerful and Passionate, But Often Misguided
Stars in My Eyes? On My Nerves, Actually
And the Winner is ... Nobody
Vintage Year for Iffy Studies and Selective Reporting
Simon Hoggart's Week: Getting Used to Niceness
The Finest Dramatist of His Generation and a Man With a Great Heart
This Week
Last Order
In Praise of Diplomacy
'Tis the Season to Be Jolly - Oh Yes It Is!
When Going Bust is No More Than a Wind-up
Wenger Fury is a Rare Constant in Arsenal's Bleak New World
Despite Everything, 2008 Proved to Be the Bbc's Year
Fan's Fate is Agonising Dilemma for Straw
An Untenanted Heart
Against the Runway: It Would Soon Be a White Elephant
For the Runway: Travel is Vital to Halt Prejudice
We Might Not Care for It, But We Must Share
My Dad's Memorial Service Was Going So Well. Then the Ghouls Turned Up
How Did So Many Smart People Get Suckered By Bernard Madoff?
Here's to a Hi-tech Homegrown Future
A Man Condemned By Psychobabble
Bah Humbug to All of You Who Just Hate Christmas
Our Teachers Deserve Better Than a Caning
Avoid Festive Feuds. Just Imagine Your Family is Perfect
So is This Really the Great New Idea - Saving the Gas-guzzler?
The Surge Won't Be the Same in Afghanistan
We Are All Suburban Now
Dravid Returns to Form With Stoic Innings
T Loves His Father More Than Me. I'm Sure I'll Come Into My Own When He's Older - I Just Hope It's Not Too Late
Warring Hallelujahs
Calling Time on Eu Opt-out
Brown's Busted Flush: the Prime Minister's 2008
Antisemites Feast on Madoff Misery
The Bright Side
All That the Recent High-profile Cases Prove is That the Law Regarding Assisted Suicide is Farcical
The Demise of Mobility and the Birth of Celebrity Culture
Manner of Delivery Makes Peers See Red
England Ponder the Mess They Have Made of Monty Panesar
Deflation is Delayed, But Still on Its Way
No Wonder Royal Mail is Struggling. Don't Even Think About Emailing Me a Christmas Card
Rights and Responsibilities Bill is All Wrong
Hurry If You Want to Be Controller of Radio 2
Why Does Everything, Even Daytime Tv, Now Have to Be 'edgy'? That Word is the Kiss of Death
Ross and the New Boys' Club
If We're Going to Spend, Then Let's Invest in Britain's Future
Working Mothers Still Gather Guilt
Camerons Win the Christmas Card Showdown
These Vile Tax Havens Have Had Their Day
Pendennis: The Observer Diary, By Oliver Marre
Upfront: In Pants We Trust
It's Owners, Not Papers, That Are the Problem
Charities Wait in Hope for a Chance to Claim Back Vat
More Bombs and Troops Will Not Help - We Can't Win This War. So What Can We Achieve?
Sterling May Be in Trouble, But the Euro's No Safe Haven
Spend or Save? Free-marketeers and the Keynesians Row Over the Road to Salvation
Author, Author: Breaking the Mould
My Thanks for the Most Civilised of Rulings
That Ipod Will Never Catch on
Money is the Strongest Taboo in Britain
Last Night's Tv
Mistakes Are Made, But Nhs is Getting Better
I Could Have Done Without the Death Scene, But Sky's Assisted Suicide Film Didn't Deserve the Tabloid Fury
Radio Review
My Baby Has Taken After Me in One Respect at Least: Overnight He Seems to Have Become Allergic to the Bath
God's Own Whitehall Farce
Pat Kavanagh Remembered: 'she Never Submitted a Flawed Manuscript'
Sending Claimants Out to Work at a Tough Time to Find Jobs
Diary
A Month in Ambridge
It's All a Matter of Timing
I Fear My Stay in Hospital Has Changed My Tastes for Ever. I'm Hooked on Strictly, X and I'm a Celeb
Panto Time in the House
I Can Sew, Make Stews, Do Apostrophes and Recite Poems, But I Can't Name Certain Body Parts Out Loud
Straw Exercises His Right to Talk Tough and Stay Positive
Question of the Week
Bricks and Mortar Don't Have Much to Do With Good Journalism
Berlusconi's Professional Foul
Kangaroo Should Not Have Been Jumped on So Soon
What a Tragedy the Lapland New Forest Attraction Closed Down. It Sounded Like My Kind of Theme Park
Will Keynes Save the World Again?
Why Karen Matthews Really Offended the Middle Classes
Why Have We Forgotten What Freedom Is?
As the Mouse Squeaks to a 40th Year, Its Creator Roars on
Stop the Doom and Gloom: Mortgage Plan is a Good Thing
Raphael Cuts Deep ... But He's Not in Tynan's Class
Leave It to the Court of Public Opinion
When Only Psycho Can Cheer You Up
Let's Hear It for a Little Literary Favouritism
'We Have to Take Responsibility'
Author, Author: Not So Novel
American Economy is in Freefall
My Bank Manager Once Invited Me for Lunch at the Branch. Imagine That Happening Today
Blazing Passions
Sipson Can Define an Era
Back to the 1950s - or Could This Be Year Zero?
Living to Fight Another Day in Speaker's Corner
TV Matters
Radio Review
Man Blamed for Darfur Says I Am at Peace With Myself
Mastermind of Darfur Tragedy Says Allegations Are a Colonialist Plot
The Fuss Over the Damian Green Affair Has Been Excessive. Parliamentary Democracy is Not at Risk
The Housing Controversy That Ids Built
Missing Bills the Only Thrills in Queen's Speech
Just 'removing' Her is Not Enough. In the Pet Shop, They're Baying for Sharon Shoesmith's Blood
Next Year, Gordon Brown Will Be on Another Planet
The Coming Year of Economic Crisis is No Time for Berlusconi to Chair the G8
Gordon Brown Saved Himself. Now He Has to Save His Party
Simon Hoggart's Week: May Your Baubles Hang Better
If Anyone Still Thinks It is Easy to Give Up Smoking, They Need Only Look at the Next Us President
Superman's Substitute and the War of the Words
Brown's Got Plenty of Sole
Final Chapter for Book Reviews?
Mugabe Shows the Elders No Respect ... But Then, Would We?
Fear Comes to the Office
Team Owners Take Back Seat for the Good of Formula One As Whole
Iran The War For Heart Mind And Soul Between Nationalist And Religion
Second Taliban Raid Destroys Nato Supplies Bound for Afghanistan
Careless Talk Costs Livelihoods
How Purple Became the New Colour of Politics
Labour Threatens to Spank the Banks Who Like to Say No
Dole Queues Longer Even Than the 1980s
Our Cruelty to Obama's Family is No Excuse for Fresh Tyranny
Safe From Terrorism, But Not From the Police