Archive: 26 August – 1 September 2013
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Sunday 1 September 2013
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Helen Lewis: MPs can save us from the media monster eating itself – by cutting short their long holidays Continue reading...
Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus twerking. 'We have created a hyperactive media which needs to be fed constantly.' Photograph: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for MTV
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Editorial: Born 100 years ago, the legend of Scottish football was a product of the remote rural pit village of Glenbuck
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Editorial: There is a serious debate about why observed temperatures have not kept pace with computer-modelled predictions Continue reading...
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A group of activists demonstrate outside parliament in London against military intervention in Syria. Photograph: Paul Davey/ Paul Davey/Demotix/Corbis
John Harris: Britain may no longer have a political establishment that can credibly speak to the public about the gravest affairs of state
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Sophie Heawood: It's not as if I actually liked school. I just liked getting ready each year, and imagining how perfect it might be this time Continue reading...
'The shiny, new, unscuffed shoes of the mind' Photograph: Alamy
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Editorial: Uncertainties surrounding Barack Obama's announcement reflect complexities of domestic and international politics
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Maria Margaronis: The trial of Savvas Michael-Matsas, one of the few Jewish public intellectuals in Greece, is a cheap sop to neo-Nazis Continue reading...
Members of the far-right Golden Dawn party stand around a stage during a gathering in Athens. Photograph: YORGOS KARAHALIS/© YORGOS KARAHALIS/Reuters/Corbis
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Chris Elliott: Open Door: A sequence of pictures rendered into an 'interactive' film that echoes time-lapse photography in style led to claims of fakery Continue reading...
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Jonathan Steele: Obama is asking a jury of safe spectators to press the yes or no button for military strikes. Will they vote for an end to empire? Continue reading...
Illustration by Andrzej Krauze
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Ibrahim Al-Marashi: As I found out when my research was plagiarised in 2003, relying on intelligence to justify an attack is fraught with danger Continue reading...
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Americans move on average 12 times during their lives. Photograph: Alamy
Heather Long: People move an average of 12 times during their life. The notion of a 'hometown' or culture can be complex
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President Barack Obama, joined by Vice President Joe Biden, delivers a statement on Syria in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C. on 31 August 31, 2013. Photograph: Kristoffer Tripplaar/Pool//Corbis
Glenn Greenwald: The president is celebrated for seeking a vote on his latest war even as his aides make clear it has no binding effect
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A Syrian fighter walks past damaged buildings at a site activists say was targetted with a car bomb in Raqqa province. Photograph: STRINGER/REUTERS
James Jeffrey: I'm confident that doing nothing isn't the answer in Syria, nor a morally defensible position. Think about Rwanda
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Tech enthusiasts: We must 'master the tools of the digital age'. Photograph: Paul Clarke
George Osborne: Britain should give young people the skills to lead the digital world
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Will Hutton: Local authority spending cuts mean no city could consider spending £189m on a civic project such as the Library of Birmingham Continue reading...
Faced with savage local authority spending cuts, no city could consider spending £189m on a civic project such as the Library of Birmingham. Photograph: Christian Richters/chrichters@aol.com
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Andrew Rawnsley: The character of the country shouldn't take the blame for spectacular miscalculations in Downing Street Continue reading...
David Cameron addresses the House of Commons during last week's vote on Syria. Photograph: Reuters
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Anger is not the same as misandry or misogyny. Photograph: M.Sobreira / Alamy/Alamy
Barbara Ellen: I've never known a woman carry that chilling aura of compressed perma-rage against the opposite sex that hangs around certain men
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The effects of sea otters on seagrass in the Pacific should surely make us think again about the badger cull on our farms, writes John Finnemore Continue reading...
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Tim Lewis: The Spanish and German leagues have replaced the Premier League in football's hierarchy Continue reading...
Gareth Bale playing for Tottenham Hotspur. He will soon be wearing a Real Madrid shirt. Photograph: Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images
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Armed militia will not amok across the Scottish Highlands just because the cause of independence has been lost. Above, a derelict cottage in Bannockburn, Scotland. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Kevin McKenna: Emotions will run high in the referendum but we won't see armed militia in the Highlands if the cause of independence is lost
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Chris Riddell 01/09/2013 Photograph: Observer
Chris Riddell on the prime minister's defeat in the Commons over Syria
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Saturday 31 August 2013
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Elizabeth Day: Getting away from your daily routine can give your whole life a new twist Continue reading...
On holiday, just put your feet up and don't check your email. Photograph: Alamy
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Catherine Bennett: The old Mallett, Porter & Dowd building in Islington is just one example of how the planning inspectorate is flouting local opinion Continue reading...
This year's Carbuncle Cup winner, 465 Caledonian Road. Photograph: Observer
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Ben Adler: If President Obama says Syria has used chemical weapons, most American liberals are likely to trust him Continue reading...
If Barack Obama says Syria has used chemical weapons, most American liberals are likely to trust him. Above, the president answers press questions about Syria at the White House on 30 August 2013. Photograph: Aude Guerrucci-Pool/Getty Images
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Observer editorial: Rebuilding nations is much harder than building cruise missile sites Continue reading...
People gather at a site that activists said was shelled by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad in Raqqa province, eastern Syria. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters
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Observer editorial: Heaney reconciled in himself two traditions often seen as being in irreconcilable conflict Continue reading...
Seamus Heaney: 'a great artist and an exemplary public intellectual'. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
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Tim Bale: David Cameron may have been forced to stay his hand on Syria but he's a long way from throwing away Trident Continue reading...
David Cameron has been forced to stay his hand on Syria but 'he’s a long way from throwing away Trident'. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
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A United Nations arms expert collects samples at the site of a suspected chemical weapons strike at Ghouta in Syria. Photograph: Ammar al-Arbini/Getty Images
Nabila Ramdani: The west needs to concentrate on formally criminalising the Assad regime and turning its members into international pariahs
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Does the idea that middle age now starts at 53 make it easier to cope with? And what does increasing longevity mean for us and the next generation? By David Stubbs and Liz Hoggard Continue reading...
A new survey suggests that we now think that middle age starts not at 41, but at 53. Photograph: Radius Images/Alamy
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Peter Beaumont: Public opinion, like old generals, is always preparing to fight the last war
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Paddy Ashdown: Labour has placed in question not only its tradition of internationalism but the future of progressive politics in the UK Continue reading...
The Labour leader Ed Miliband addresses the House of Commons during the debate on whether Britain should take military action against Syria. Photograph: Reuters
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Free Syrian Army fighters escort a convoy of UN vehicles carrying a team of United Nations chemical weapons experts Photograph: Bassam Khabieh/Reuters
Thomas H Henriksen: A US strike on Syria is as much about beating back al-Qaida affiliates as it is about Bashar al-Assad
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Jay Leno talks with President Barack Obama during a commercial break on 6 August 2013. Photograph: Paul Drinkwater/NBC/Getty Images
Uzma Kolsy: It's time the president acknowledges that systematized discrimination against Muslims is real and thriving
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Medicine accounts for a fifth of the United States GDP, far higher than other developed countries yielding similar to worse outcomes, with "medical waste" accounting for about $750bn annually. Photograph: F Sierakowski/Rex Features
Haider Javed Warraich: The brokenness of medicine not only affects millions of patients every day, but is now also threatening the entire US economy
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Andrew Murray: It is now clear, as indeed it was in 2003, that most people have no wish to embroil Britain militarily in the Middle East Continue reading...
People outside the houses of parlliament protest against a military attack on Syria from the US, Britain or France. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
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Friday 30 August 2013
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Editorial: Gender morphing and neutrality have already been shown on fashion catwalks. Now let all men savour the freedom Continue reading...
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Editorial: With reported losses of £709m, the mutual bank suffered because it behaved like any other high-street bank Continue reading...
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Editorial: The country has not become isolationist. It is merely fed up with the debilitating post 9/11 years of national sacrifice Continue reading...
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Steve Richards: Cameron's contortion over Syria reminds us of his inexperience. But he is further constrained by a fundamental change in attitudes to conflict Continue reading...
Prime minister David Cameron is driven away following his Commons defeat on Syria. Photograph: Olivia Harris/Reuters
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'Full-hearted engagement with the UN is vital because it helps establish the moral authority of any action.' Photograph: Flo Smith/NurPhoto/Corbis
Ed Miliband: Our future global position lies neither in turning in on itself, nor rushing into conflict, but in a hard-headed multilateralism
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Susie Boyt: September is near. For many, it still means a new term: filled with potential, a clean slate Continue reading...
'The back-to-school feeling doesn’t just arrive, you have to train for it. Twenty disposable propelling pencils will make you feel in control.' Photograph: Dave King/Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley
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Jamie Oliver may be right about education, but he's wrong about big TVs, writes Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett. Photograph: Steve Meddle/REX
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett: I'm all for Oliver's anti-obesity crusading, but his remarks about bad food and big TVs do reveal a lack of understanding of modern poverty
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Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Giles Fraser: Loose canon: Centuries may separate them, but both groups stood up to foreign occupation and were powered by grassroots activism
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Martin Rowson cartoon 31.08.2013. Photograph: Martin Rowson 2013
The prime minister has said that public unease about getting involved in another Middle East war 'trumped the sense of outrage about chemical weapons'
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Illustration by Matthew Richardson
Ha-Joon Chang: Five years on from the last crash, quantitative easing remains the weapon of choice for governments unwilling to challenge the current economic model
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Jack Straw: Paddy Ashdown implies that those who voted against military intervention in Syria do not care. What condescending nonsense Continue reading...
Paddy Ashdown has criticised parliament's decision to vote against military intervention in Syria. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
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A dream of Eden … the Kyles of Bute in western Scotland. Photograph: Axiomphotographic.com
Ian Jack: Puttering around the Kyles of Bute under glorious sunshine on a bank holiday Sunday – a dream of Eden I have had for 50 years was fulfilled at last
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'A toxic combination of lack of safety and chronic poverty is depleting our young.' Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Camila Batmanghelidjh: It's little wonder that children are mentally and emotionally depleted by living on scant resources. Society pays the price
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A father and his kids on Father's Day 2013/ Photograph: /Belinda Russell
Tiffany Gee Lewis: We've branded parenting in all the wrong ways. Is it any wonder that more and more couples are opting out of having children?
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Tom Chivers: We have lost a writer who masterfully synthesised traditions – and was also a great ambassador for poetry as a craft of listening Continue reading...
Seamus Heaney, who has died aged 74 … 'if he might occasionally have been accused of nostalgia, it was always balanced by the vitality of his language.' Photograph: Jane Bown for the Observer
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Oscar Rickett: The Toronto mayor's statements on drug use are part of a well-worn set of answers that prevents an honest debate on prohibition Continue reading...
Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford, denied he smoked crack cocaine but admitted to smoking cannabis. Photograph: Chris Young/AP
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A book that changed me: In the final part of our series, readers reveal the books that helped them overcome the difficulties they faced in their lives Continue reading...
Scarlett Johansson in the forthcoming film adaptation of Under the Skin. Photograph: Jon McGowan/dpa/Corbis
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Anti war protesters carry the Syrian flag as they stand near the US Armed Forces Recruiting Center in New York. Photograph: Edward Leavy Jr/Demotix/Corbis
Mark Weisbrot: Obama has less legitimacy and popular support for the proposed bombing than almost any US military action in recent history
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'For those opposed to the so-called “regeneration” of Peckham – and of London generally – Bold Tendencies [art space and cafe] has unsurprisingly turned into something of a whipping boy.' Photograph: Arcaid Images/Alamy
Matt Bolton for openDemocracy: Change in inner-city areas such as Peckham has been fuelled by the 'cultural creatives' but it is art itself that offers hope of resistance
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Felecia Mulkey: This is not your mother's cheerleading. Acrobatics and tumbling combines the best of gymnastics and competitive cheer
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Soldiers take part in graduation parade at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Christopher Yates: The only way to keep a rein on our nations' military activities may be to make sure everyone is directly involved in them
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'The Saudi Arabian No More Abuse campaign has paid off, culminating in a historic law banning domestic violence.' Photograph: King Khalid Foundation
Nesrine Malik: It will still be difficult for Saudi women to report abuse by male guardians. But at least the problem is now being acknowledged
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Sarah Wollaston: A military strike could escalate into a wider conflict with many hundreds of thousands more victims and no exit strategy Continue reading...
Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, addresses the House of Commons during the debate on whether Britain intervene militarily in Syria. Photograph: Pool/Reuters
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François Hollande said France was ready to 'punish' those behind the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Photograph: Thierry Roge/EPA
Philippe Marlière: François Hollande seemed ready to back Britain and the US, but a lack of public support may force him to reconsider
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An alien from Tim Burton's Mars Attacks: 'Dystopian science fiction has ever been predicated on the fearful alien other.' Photograph: Allstar/Warner Bros/Sportsphoto Ltd
Philip Hoare: The suggestion that Earth was invaded by microbes from Mars challenges human conceptions about life, the universe and everything
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Post your suggestions for subjects you'd like us to cover on Comment is free
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UK Prime Minister David Cameron lost a government motion on Thursday on possible intervention in Syria. Photograph: Reuters
British MPs ruled out military intervention in Syria in a dramatic vote on Thursday night. Did they make the right decision?
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Anne Perkins: First thoughts: In the Commons Ed Miliband was the hero and David Cameron was humiliated, but the tragedy in Syria is no nearer resolution Continue reading...
Labour party leader Ed Miliband speaks during the debate on Syria in the House of Commons. Photograph: PA
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Van Badham: If elected, Tony Abbott is to offer vouchers to married couples for counselling. Little does he know that $200 won't fix troubled relationships – so I'll give you advice for free
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Martin Rowson's Silly Season ? 30.08.2013
Martin Rowson's Silly Season
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Lee Rhiannon: Australia's upcoming Security Council presidency has already been tarnished by the government's broken promise to women and girls. The election is an ideal time to change this
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Celeste Liddle: If the attack had happened in an affluent part of Australia, there would be coast-to-coast coverage for days. The lack of media reports on a story affecting Indigenous people is telling
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This week's host on @IndigenousX: Damian Griffis
IndigenousX: Ebony Allen: Each week, a new guest hosts the @IndigenousX twitter account. We're inviting them to tell us about who they are
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Nick Riemer: The ongoing commodification of higher education is just one facet of the disastrous hijacking of universities by corporate ideology. We are fighting this
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Thursday 29 August 2013
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Ben Jennings cartoon 30.08.2013 Photograph: Ben Jennings
Ed Miliband has said that David Cameron failed to prove definitively that the Assad regime was responsible for the chemical attack
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The human misery in Syria is agonising to watch. But intervention-lite is a bad idea for all but the politicians' egos Continue reading...
'The use of chemical weapons is awful. But to treat their apparently random use to justify an attack on a foreign state is wilful.' Photograph: Flo Smith/NurPhoto/Corbis
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'David Cameron should be effing and blinding instead at his own party, for it's they who have changed without him noticing.' Photograph: Satoshi Kambayashi
Polly Toynbee: The Syria debate has exposed the fact that, while Cameron wasn't looking, both his country and his party changed
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Editorial: The government has been prevented from mounting a foolish attack, leaving the PM humiliated and Labour with great credit
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Editorial: Great commentary depends on an encyclopaedic knowledge and the ability to put it into the right words at unexpected moments Continue reading...
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Fracking protests in West Sussex. 'King's heirs are not those who move from one fashionable campsite and cause to another.' Photograph: Tony Kershaw/Rex Features
Nick Herbert: From badgers to fracking to Occupy, these anti-democrats are deluded to believe they're courageous rights activists
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Editorial: The government has been prevented from mounting a premature and foolish attack. Parliament has done its job Continue reading...
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George Brock: In an age of data disclosure, muddled law places too much emphasis on job titles rather than the value of the information Continue reading...
'David Miranda (right) was moving material between Glenn Greenwald (left) and a film-maker in Berlin. So hardly a journalist by most definitions; more of a bagman on his own account.' Photograph: Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
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An inoffensive selfie. Photograph: Nano Calvo/Alamy
Arwa Mahdawi: Victorians posed with dead grandmas, so Selfies at Serious Places needn't mean the end of civilisation. But get the tone right
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Classic: Black Guy Asks Nation for Change.
Open thread: The Onion celebrates 25 years of satirical newsmaking on Thursday. Tell us which of its famous headlines is your favorite
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Ellie Mae O'Hagan: The trade union leader Huber Ballesteros has been arrested on dubious grounds. Such violations are Colombia's dirty little secret
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Syrian activists inspect the bodies of people in Ghouda. Photograph: Reuters
Michael Cohen: Taking action against Assad will help to further deter others from using chemical weapons or violating international law
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Seth Freedman: The joint Israeli-Palestinian Gangnam-style dancing in Hebron does a great deal to humanise both sides of the conflict
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Heidi Moore chats with Marlen Bodden of the Legal Aid Society about how minimum wage can define her clients' lives
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A plum of smoke rises moments after a hydrogen explosion at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex. Photograph: Reuters
Amy Goodman: Fukushima showd us the intolerable costs of nuclear power. The citizens of Vermont show us the benefits of shutting it down
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Bupa is one of two providers that dominate the private healthcare market. Photograph: Bupa/PA
Alan Maynard: Transparency in pricing and the quality of patient care is needed to overcome problems identified by the Competition Commission
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The empty podium stands surrounded by confetti after the election night at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Dan Gillmor: Our founders had their flaws, and huge moral blind spots – but on liberty, they were way ahead of their time
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Women attend a prayer ceremony in Delhi the day after the funeral of a 23-year-old woman who was gang-raped on a bus. Photograph: Adnan Abidi / Reuters/REUTERS
Jill Filipovic: Horrific rapes in Bolivia and India remind us that sexual assault can happen anywhere women's bodies and voices are degraded
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Fast food workers take part in a protest at a McDonald's restaurant in Harlem, New York for better wages, 4 April 2013. Photograph: VIEWpress Corp/Corbis
Willietta Dukes: I know what it feels like to be afraid that your children will go to bed hungry, your heat will be turned off or you'll be evicted
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Post your suggestions for subjects you'd like us to cover on Comment is free
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Michael Moran: Microbreweries and chain pubs look like being the future, but the decline of the local boozer would be a loss for community life Continue reading...
'What [Pub Landlord, Al Murray] values most about his local ... is that everyone in it knows him well enough to ignore him.' Photograph: David Levene
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Open thread: A former banker has left £2.3m to keep Sidmouth beautiful. Tell us what places or causes deserve your generosity Continue reading...
Other than family or friends, who would be in your last will and testament? Photograph: Alamy
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Will Norman: Attending functions as a Paralympian, I'm treated with the utmost respect. Out shopping, it's a very different story Continue reading...
Paralympians wave to the crowd during a parade through London. Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA
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Patrick Doorly: The ICA's new digital forum, Art Rules, seeks to challenge the long-standing notion that great artists are above rules Continue reading...
A screenshot from the ICA's digital forum, Art Rules. Photograph: ICA
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Martin Rowson's Silly Season ? 29.08.2013
Martin Rowson's Silly Season
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The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, and the shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Martin Kettle: Update, 9am Ed Miliband and Douglas Alexander have been able to change the momentum of the parliamentary process
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Antony Loewenstein: More aid being indiscriminately distributed isn't always a good thing: it creates a culture where nations lack the necessary skills to empower themselves. We need more accountability
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Paula Matthewson: Labor will continue to press Abbott on his costings, but not in the interests of voters' right to know – look no further than Chris Bowen's allegations about Abbott's $10bn 'costings black hole'
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David Donaldson: For Rudd to stand by the US is a risk-free policy: if it goes badly, it will be Obama's fault – but if it goes well, it will be claimed as a moral victory. But it doesn't make it right
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Madeleine Morris: Yes, Melbourne is wonderfully liveable. But don't abandon New York, London or even (gulps) Sydney just yet
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Wednesday 28 August 2013
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Editorial: George Bush Sr banned it from Air Force One, but now it's presumably back on the menu, as it's Barack Obama's favourite Continue reading...
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Editorial: The Good Pub Guide predicts 4,000 pubs could close in the year ahead, and it thinks most of them will deserve to go
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Editorial: After eight western interventions in Arab countries in 15 years, sceptical generals and the public are entitled to answers Continue reading...
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We asked our readers what action, military or otherwise, they would take over the conflict in Syria
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John Vidal: A book that changed me: Living in self-imposed exile in 70s Paris, I found the intellectual revolution I'd been searching for in Colossus of Maroussi Continue reading...
Henry Miller in Paris. ‘It was not enough to overthrow governments or masters, total revolution of thought was needed. "Every war is a defeat to the human spirit".' Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Feature
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Middle-class families such as the one in Outnumbered are feeling the pinch Photograph: Adam Lawrence/Hat Trick productions - Pat Lee
Suzanne Moore: The squeezed middle yelps. Indeed, on the latest statistics, it is gasping for air. Will they riot, or form an orderly queue to loot Debenhams?
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Martin Rowson cartoon 29.08.2013. Photograph: Martin Rowson 2013
Britain and the US are under pressure to delay military intervention in Syria
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Hans Blix: By ordering air strikes against Syria without UN security council support, Obama will be doing the same as Bush in 2003 Continue reading...
George Bush, the then US president, waves to US navy personnel at Mayport Naval Station, in Jacksonville, Florida, 13 February 2003, after urging the United Nations to uphold its relevance by enforcing demands that the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, disarm. Photograph: Larry Downing/REUTERS
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‘By and large "animal lovers" want farmers to produce their food quietly and without fuss, so it doesn't upset them.' Illustration: Belle Mellor
Melissa Kite: Controversy over the badger cull underscores Britain's hypocrisy and anthropomorphic confusion over animals
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Boya Dee: Social media have sped up the definitions of some words such as selfie or twerk, while other lingo lingers underground for years Continue reading...
'Slang has been used to communicate since language began and is often easier to grasp than some of the discombobulating words the English dictionary stores within its bowels.' Photograph: Alamy
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Andrew Brown: Welby knows that young people detest anti-gay prejudice, and is telling his church. It's more than Rowan Williams did Continue reading...
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA
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John Holmes: This UN doctrine can justify military action where citizens need protection – but it does not provide a practical guide Continue reading...
'Millions inside Syria are desperately in need, but however supposedly surgical the strikes, significant numbers of civilians are likely to be killed.' Photograph: Halabi Lens/Demotix/Corbis
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America's long-term unemployed. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Heather Long: Martin Luther King Jr's message was also about helping the poor and those being left behind in the US economy
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Malcolm Rifkind: If, as seems certain, the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons there is no choice but to take military action with or without a UN mandate
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Katie Rogers, Ruth Spencer and David Dennis: On the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Guardian readers discuss what the civil rights movement means to them
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'With Dale Cregan widely reported as starting a hunger strike, the bounty seems to be an accepted as part of the story.' Photograph: Greater Manchester police/PA
Eric Allison: The story of a £20,000 reward payable to anyone who removes the police killer's remaining eye just doesn't add up
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Lehman Brothers chief executive Richard Fuld being heckled by protesters in Washington in 2008. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP
Pratap Chatterjee: CEOs in America are remunerated whether they do their jobs well or not. It's an alarming trend that boards aren't fixing
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Blogger Jack Monroe was accused of 'turning poverty into the cosy frugality of a Beatrix Potter book'. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian
Richard Seymour: Jack Monroe's cheap cooking tips were never intended to perpetuate the idea that austerity is somehow good for the poor
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Anil Seth: Remote control by brain is a good internet trick, not a scientific breakthrough. But neuroscience's real frontiers truly are exciting Continue reading...
'Using this information to evoke a movement in another person is rather trivial – the same signal could have been used to turn on the Blackpool Illuminations (above).' Photograph: Chris Warren/Alamy
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Barack Obama in Buffalo talking about student debt. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Ana Marie Cox: Any solution to the college affordability crisis – or loan crisis – depends on disrupting the marketplace for higher education
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Civil rights protestors are attacked with a water cannon. Photograph: Getty Images
Harry J Enten: Once you control for region, it turns out that Democrats were actually more likely to support the 1964 Civil Rights Act
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Jonathan Jones: Framing the debate: A surreal image of Spain invading the Rock shows that, despite the rhetoric, the idea of Spain and Britain at war is laughable Continue reading...
Francisco Javier Pérez Trigueros, the mayor of Callosa de Segura in southern Spain, posted on Facebook this 'gaudy Photoshop dream of Spain seizing the British-owned Rock of Gibraltar.' Photograph: Francisco Javier Pérez Trigueros/Facebook
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Martin Luther King at the march on Washington in 1963. Photograph: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORB
Gary Younge: President Obama was elected to run that system. Although he cannot claim King's mantle, he can carry on King's work
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Post your suggestions for subjects you'd like us to cover on Comment is free
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Ryan Gilbey: Live subtitling certainly has its problems, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater – dubbing strips away nuance Continue reading...
'Blunkett’s beef is really with live subtitling, where time pressures create the kind of exaggerated typos he singles out'. Photograph: Graeme Robertson
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Frank Ledwidge: Both David Cameron and the intelligence community know they have to get this right. MPs can help by asking these questions Continue reading...
'David Cameron's government seems clear that it has evidence of Assad regime responsibility for the Ghouta attack. We do not yet know what this evidence is.' Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images
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Brian Cathcart: Publications such as the Daily Mail and Spectator are willing to abuse the power of the press to protect the status quo Continue reading...
David Miranda with his partner, Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald. Photograph: AP
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'Ed Miliband's conditions need to be met, and none are likely to be ascertained by Thursday’s vote.' Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian
Polly Toynbee: First thoughts: Backing action in Syria could give Miliband a much-needed injection of gravitas – but, quite rightly, he has conditions
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Martin Rowson's Silly Season 28.08.2013
Martin Rowson's Silly Season
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David Alexander: Kevin Rudd can't take credit for avoiding the economic crisis – it is the pre-existing strength of the Australian government's finances which saved us from a catastrophe
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'The state ... should make sure that schools aren't full of vending machines stacked full of crisps, Snickers bars and Coke.' Photograph: Don McPhee for the Guardian
Christina Patterson: Children are at risk, and where parents refuse to take responsibility, schools need to step in
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Xavier Toby: You heard me: make the whole lot of them illegal. No more member's price, special price, club price, or points to get you a discount price
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Tim Christodoulou: For many of my high school friends, politics is nothing more than the invective hurled in parliament. But we first time voters should be encouraged to care, be empowered and have a say
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Glenn Greenwald: Anti-journalism journalists, US/UK attacks on press freedom, and candidate Obama on non-authorized military attacks
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Luke Ryan: Clive Palmer did get one thing right: in a modern election, there is no greater sin than being boring. Why should the Australian candidates bother with policy?
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Tuesday 27 August 2013
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Editorial: The dream remains unfinished business, but that only reinforces the power of that moment in August 1963 Continue reading...
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Editorial: We all answer nature's call in our own ways Continue reading...
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Editorial: As the Iraq crisis showed, wars of choice are politically unrealistic without parliamentary authorisation Continue reading...
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Seumas Milne: Instead of removing the chemical weapon threat, another western assault on the Arab world risks escalation and backlash Continue reading...
A victim of an air strike by regime forces on Aleppo is carried away, on August 26 2013. 'Chemical weapons are far from being the greatest threat to Syria’s people. That is the war itself and the death and destruction that has engulfed the country.' Photograph: Abo Al-Nur Sadk/AFP/Getty Images
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Ian Birrell: Attitudes to disability are so deep-rooted that the euphoria over the 2012 heroes could not spark a sea change Continue reading...
British quadruple gold medal-winning Paralympian David Weir takes part in the London 2012 victory parade. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
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Marek Hlasko, author of The Eighth Day of the Week, was feted as the Polish (literary) James Dean for a while
Zoe Williams: A book that changed me: Marek Hlasko's The Eighth Day of the Week helped me come to terms with all those questions about capitalism that have no answers
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Simon Jenkins: Convinced national security is for ever at risk, western governments mimic the fanaticism they claim to despise Continue reading...
Illustration by Matt Kenyon
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Ben Jennings 28.08.2013 Photograph: Ben Jennings for the Guardian
Opposition mounts to cull of badgers and development of high-speed rail network
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Tell us what form of action you would take, if any, on the crisis in Syria if you were in the shoes of a world leader
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Neil Armstrong RIP. Photograph: Nasa/Sportsphoto Ltd
News of Neil Armstrong's demise has strangely resurfaced on social media. But can you say for certain which of these notable figures are alive and which are dead?
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Mourners after Syria's likely chemical attack. Photograph: Erbin News/ Erbin News/Demotix/Corbis
US secretary of state John Kerry said the use of chemical weapons in Syria was "undeniable" and a "moral obscenity"
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Hadley Freeman: Cyrus's act was less a homage to hip-hop and more a minstrel show. For cultural cross-pollination, give me the Notting Hill carnival any day
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Lindsey Bever: There's no way to calculate how many prisoners were executed for crimes they didn't commit. I met a man who almost was
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Buzzfeed is one of the sites that has embraced the listicle as a way to convey information to the 'news snacking' consumer. Photograph: Buzzfeed
Fruzsina Eordogh: BuzzFeed should apologise for allowing a radical pro-life group to use the site's new Community section as an anti-abortion ad
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Sadhbh Walshe: Sex sells in the music industry – just ask Madonna. There was nothing in Miley Cyrus' VMA show that hasn't been done before
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Alex Andreou: Living in poverty means a world of no, so you are grateful for ready meals or a large TV. Jamie's judgments take the biscuit Continue reading...
Jamie Oliver: 'His heart is in the right place. But he needs to understand that the choice between having a TV or a mojito fruit salad is a bogus one for the 13 million living in poverty in the UK.' Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
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US president Barack Obama makes remarks before signing the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Chris Williams: With college loan debt hitting us where it hurts, the American dream has become the American farce for Generations Y and Z
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'I knew of Mary Berry, of course, and had read about the show, but to see is to believe.' Photograph: Des Willie/BBC/Love Productions
Agnès Poirier: The first episode of the new series was hilarious and outrageous. Pastry à l'anglaise is all about comfort, not art
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Chilean President Sebastián Pinera said an 11-year-old girl who is having a baby conceived by rape has shown 'depth and maturity'. Photograph: Claudio Santana/AFP/Getty
Erika L Sánchez: Women in these countries are fighting for the right to choose what happens to their bodies and we need to support them
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After serving three years on death row in San Quentin, California, Shujaa Graham was exonerated over the 1973 killing of a prison guard. Now he is vice chair of Witness to Innocence, an organization that works to empower exonerated death row survivors
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Teju Cole: defining modern life. Photograph: PR
Open thread: The writer's canny definitions have struck a chord with many. What would you contribute to his glossary of modern discourse?
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Costas Lapavitsas: If threatened by Germany with exit from the euro, Greece should not blink, but instead do what's needed to save its economy Continue reading...
Striking state doctors and health workers protest against cuts in central Athens. Photograph: Aristidis Vafeiadakis/ZUMA Press/Corbis
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A badger cull protest near Watchet in Somerset, where activists are gathering. Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA
Activists who have in the past sabotaged fox hunts are reportedly planning to visit badger culling sites in the coming weeks. Some saboteurs have already been disrupting traps and digging up baits. Do you sympathise with their actions?
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Post your suggestions for subjects you'd like us to cover on Comment is free
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Giles Fraser: First thoughts: Talk of armed intervention in Syria is all about western powers satisfying their desire not to look impotent Continue reading...
Tony Blair's calls for military action in Syria 'would be doing little more than satisfying our own sense of retributive morality and one that has become blurred with a large dollop of action-hero crap.' Photograph: Chris Jackson/PA
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Bo Xilai was not allowed to appoint his own defence attorneys. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Andreas Fulda for The Conversation: PR distractions such as liveblogging hide the fact that a single political entity plays the role of enforcer, prosecutor and judge
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Martin Rowson's Silly Season 27.08.2013
Martin Rowson's Silly Season
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'There is no training course in the world that can truly prepare you for caring: it’s something you either have or you don’t.' Photograph: Gary Calton
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett: My brother's care worker had to leave, her minimum wage not enough to survive on. My brother is heartbroken. I'm furious
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Paola Totaro: The London mayor's call for free movement between the UK and Australia is adding fuel to a combustible debate on immigration
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Ben Pobjie: Assange's new video aimed at Australian voters seems to say: 'I may be a world away trying to evade capture by the military-industrial complex, but mate, I'm pretty much just like you'
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Catherine Deveney: I'm on Team Gok and I'm going in swinging for him. Any British-Chinese gay man who gets up people's noses for calling breasts 'bangers' is my kind of guy
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David Ritter: Power remains highly concentrated in many sectors, from banking to the retail food industry. This aggregation of control should be scrutinised
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Monday 26 August 2013
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Editorial: The act of enticing a passerby to play a piano aloud lifts the spirits and even, in some players' hands, touches the soul Continue reading...
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Editorial: The plan to send a manned mission into space to capture a 500-ton asteroid is variously daring, imaginative or crazy, or perhaps all three
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Editorial: The UK's notorious record of undercommitting to infrastructure investment means we languish at 24th in a global league table. Continue reading...
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'Some people think Ed Miliband is a clownish failure, but he could still win in 2015.' Photograph: Andrew Parsons/i-Images
Jackie Ashley: Middle East in turmoil, two key referendums and a fragile recovery mean Ed can still go for gold at the next election
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Michael Meacher: A major expansion of hi-tech manufacturing is our best hope of rebalancing the British economy Continue reading...
'Osborne's Help to Buy scheme is stoking another massive housing bubble – exactly the wrong way to boost the economy.' Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters
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'The Indian economy has been in trouble for quite a while already, and only wilful blindness could have led to ignorance on this.' Illustration: Daniel Pudles
Jayati Ghosh: India's economic problems reflect a global boom-to-bust pattern. Why do policymakers act surprised?
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The debate could soon be about whether to cancel some of the austerity or stick with it to shrink the state. Photograph: Lenscap/Alamy
Paul Mason: It's not the same across the country, but there are signs of growth. The challenge for Labour is how to make the most of the new reality
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Barack Obama. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Open thread: From spying to the economy, Guardian readers see plenty to criticise in President Obama's administration
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Ben Jennings 27.08.2013 Photograph: Ben Jennings for the Guardian
World leaders divided over response to chemical attack in Damascus suburb
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Most of the families who livied in the tenement houses lost a child, as they could not afford doctors. Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Polly Toynbee: A book that changed me: Maud Pember Reeves produced a record of the lives of good people ground down by the relentlessness of earning too little
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Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger and Guardian US editor Janine Gibson answer questions about the NSA revelations at 10amET/3pmBST
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Anke Domscheit-Berg: You told us: Despite its privacy laws, Germany is the most spied-on country in Europe. The Pirate party is committed to turning this around Continue reading...
Supporters of the German Pirate party. 'This young political force represents the digital society, fighting for transparent governments and citizen empowerment as well as for freedom rights and privacy.' Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
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Martin Luther King delivers his 'I Have a Dream' speech in Washington DC in 1963. Photograph: AP
Luis J Rodriguez: I faced death threats, including having razor blades to my neck. I was in a cell next to Charles Manson. Yet I stood up for myself
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Paul MacInnes: We may be in the throes of a Conservative moment, but it is harsh to take it out on this vibrant seaside resort Continue reading...
A sculptor creates 'The Sands of Time' on Brighton beach. Photograph: Alamy
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Emma Brockes: Kutcher isn't just a pretty face. He's figured out how to portray himself as a 'man of ideas' in this nerd age
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Maurice Mcleod: I've got no problem with white artists taking the best of black pop culture but Cyrus's hyper-sexual act doesn't cut it
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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (L) speaks as Jon Steinberg, President and Chief Operating Office of BuzzFeed, smiles during a news conference launching the new "We Are Made in NY" initiative to support the tech industry in New York February 19, 2013. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Michael Wolff: Michael Bloomberg came into the job a drab, happenstance fat cat, and leaves it as a sexy character and moral force
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Japanese Prime minister Shinzo Abe has appointed a central banker committed to raising inflation. Photograph: Franck Robichon/EPA
Dean Baker: Prime minister Shinzo Abe is kickstarting Japan's economy with expansionary policies. So why must the US have a 'lost decade'?
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Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates talks to media after the 2012 mass shooting in a movie theatre. Photograph: Ed Andrieski/AP
Dawn DiPrince: The pro-gun lobby is funding an ugly backlash campaign after Colorado lawmakers passed tough gun control measures
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Julie Bindel: It's not my business how many partners people have, but let's not pretend that this will bring sexual equality to relationships Continue reading...
'Let's not pretend polyamory will bring on the sexual revolution any time soon.'
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Should voting be compulsory for first-time voters, as the IPPR thinktank has suggested? Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA Wire/Press Association Images
All young people who are eligible to vote for the first time should have to cast a ballot or be fined, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank. Do you agree?
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Energy consultant Nick Grealy joins Andrew Pendleton, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth, to debate Britain's approach to fracking
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Post your suggestions for subjects you'd like us to cover on Comment is free
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Open thread: Lib Dem minister Steve Webb claims that God must be a liberal. Tell us what you think the almighty's political views might be Continue reading...
Casting light on the political views of the almighty. Photograph: Alessandro Di Meo/EPA
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Simon Jenkins: First thoughts: By tamely calling time on the last Ashes match due to bad light, umpires show why cricket deserves all the ridicule it gets Continue reading...
'The decision [to call off the Oval test] showed total insensitivity to the spirit of a game, to spectators who had paid money to see players play, not umpires umpire.' Photograph: Rex/Andrew Fosker
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Andrew Brown: How to believe: The 'God' of American civil religion supplies a way for society to judge itself from a standpoint exterior to power Continue reading...
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A young Notting Hill carnival participant in union flag facepaint. Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images
Mona Chalabi: The Notting Hill carnival was created in 1959 in response to the harassment of young black men. British Muslims could take note
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Kevin Rudd with a young fan: 'Young people aren't stupid,' Ben Hanson said. 'We know exactly what you're trying to do.' Photograph: David Crosling/AAP
Are Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott addressing the issues that matter to young people? Four first-time voters give their answers
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Martin Rowson's Silly Season 26.08.2013
Martin Rowson's Silly Season
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Scott Ludlam: Australia should hang the numbers again and vote for another minority government where parliament retains its role as a negotiating space. It's certainly better than the alternatives
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Mary Creagh: The cull will be bad for farmers, taxpayers and wildlife, and most of all it flies in the face of scientific evidence Continue reading...
'In 2011, bovine TB caused 26,000 cattle to be slaughtered, costing us £90m in testing and compensation.' Photograph: Natural Visions/Alamy
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John Quiggin: As long as the Liberals are seen as superior economic managers, cuts can be presented as a matter of stern economic necessity. Rudd is well placed to fight this
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Danielle Celermajer and Madeleine Finn: Poverty may not be a 'sexy' issue, but as Australians we have to remember we are voting on housing, education, and the chance of those at the margins to live a decent life
Comment from the paper
Steve Bell: Steve Bell on Nick Clegg's conference speech to the Liberal Democrats – cartoon
Zoe Williams: Your bank really isn't a venerable institution, is it? So ditch it
Hans Blix: Diplomacy over Syria brings another chance to talk with Iran