West of Kabul

This moment offers a priceless chance for the west to engage with Arab societies on a level field of political freedom, economic opportunity, human rights and the dignity of the common man

• Yemeni opposition offers transition plan to Saleh
• Opinion: Why the world needs virtuous autocrats

Discrimination in the market place

If equal treatment means charging the same price for the same product, what equality requires depends on how ‘same product’ is defined

The Merkel mettle

The accumulating evidence of Angela Merkel’s indecisiveness and political vulnerability is a cause for concern. For Europe’s sake, she needs to recover her old mettle

Goodbye Galliano

Dior’s star may have felt that his alleged gross anti-Semitism, captured on video, was provocative but his dismissal will hopefully have disabused him of any such erroneous idea

Why China fears the Arab spring

Although Beijing has retreated from some of its grosser intrusions into the personal space of its citizens, fundamental freedoms, especially the right to exercise political choice, continue to be denied

Ireland’s winter of discontent

Ireland’s future depends on bigger forces than Dublin politics. But what the new leaders do will matter fro Europe

Washington heads for a shutdown

The US recovery is not yet secure. A bill that cuts spending gently at most in the remainder of this year, together with agreement on more sweeping tax and spending measures to come, would be the best outcome

The high cost of high-speed rail in UK

In an ideal world the London to Birmingham line might be a wonderful thing to have; at a time of tough choices on public spending it looks hard to justify

Greece’s struggles

Call time on GMT

Britain and Libya

World will adapt to oil behaving badly

The vision thing

Time to muzzle Libya’s mad dog

Funding regulators

Skirting the boards

Apple bites digital hand that feeds it

The feeble monster