All comment is free stories 25 September 2013

6.17pm NSA

UK detention of Reprieve activist consistent with NSA's view of drone opponents as 'threats' and 'adversaries'

Glenn Greenwald: A top secret NSA document provides context for yesterday's abusive detention of Baraa Shiban
6.15pm Food & drink

Is the way to a man's heart through his stomach?

Open thread: A woman has been making a sandwich a day to try to woo her boyfriend into proposing. Is this legitimate romance or the worst of sexism?
6.00pm Energy

Ed Miliband is right about resetting the energy market

Terry Macalister: A price freeze, a breakup of the big providers and better regulation are much needed but so too is a low-carbon future
5.55pm Tea Party movement

Ted Cruz, Obamacare circus performer

Gary Younge: His pseudo-filibuster over defunding the ACA was doomed to fail, yet the Tea Party sees him as a lion. In truth, he's a clown
5.29pm Banking

'The biggest problem in banking is measuring performance'

Joris Luyendijk: Today's interviewee shatters the illusion held by many bankers that they operate in a meritocracy. Often, it's a question of 'fit'
5.28pm Banking

Former HR head at ABN Amro: 'We are beta-male chimpanzees'

Joris Luyendijk: Kilian Wawoe says that as long as the bonus culture exists, bankers cannot be blamed for being 'immoral', as they are forced to operate with a different set of rules
5.05pm Pakistan

Outrage is the wrong reaction to outrageous crimes

Andrew Brown: Calls for greater anger over the massacre of Christians in Pakistan, or any other heinous crime, promote self-righteousness and seed more violence
4.04pm Chicago

Chicago politicians plan paramilitary policing – the last thing we need

Mikki Kendall: No one disputes that gun violence is a big problem in parts of Chicago. But we can't tackle criminality without talking poverty
3.30pm Housing

Ed Miliband's housing pledge is a step forward – but Britain needs a giant leap

Lynsey Hanley: Miliband promised 200,000 houses a year at the Labour conference, but that won't meet the shortfall caused by the state's withdrawal from housing
3.16pm Facebook

Is Facebook sharing making us more vain?

Joe Turnbull: Facebook is set up, through its tools and ideology of 'sharing', to encourage users in a relentless PR campaign for themselves
2.50pm US crime

When will the US stop building more prisons?

Lateefah Simon: I was once a teen mom with an arrest record and few options. I know from personal experience how a job can change a life
2.27pm Barack Obama

Obamacare: stop listening to the partisan hacks

Heather Long: Most Americans are unsure about Obamacare, and that's OK. Here are five key areas to help people make up their own minds
2.13pm Westgate mall attacks

Kenya's Westgate attack: the lessons are both local and global

Martin Plaut: The origins of the atrocity are in both Osama bin Laden's terror network and a growing radicalism among Kenyans and Somalis
2.00pm Schedule 7

Like David Miranda, I was interrogated at a British airport

Baraa Shiban: I came to Britain to talk about human rights abuses in Yemen, only to be held at Gatwick under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act
1.30pm Nicaragua

Bill de Blasio's stand against Reagan's contra war on Nicaragua

Stephen Kinzer: The would-be New York mayor's pro-Sandinista activism was in America's finest tradition. Where's that political courage now?
12.58pm Labour conference 2013

Steve Bell on Ed Miliband 'sick and tired of being a weed' at Labour party conference - video

Video (2min 46sec)
Steve Bell explains how he took inspiration from an old Charles Atlas ad in comic-books for his cartoon of Ed Miliband's conference speech in Brighton
12.30pm NSA

To reform the NSA, fire officials who lie

James Goodale: I saw this at first hand over the Pentagon Papers case: the NSA has a culture of lying. That should be Obama's first concern
12.11pm You tell us

Ideas for 25-26 September

Post your suggestions for subjects you'd like us to cover on Comment is free
11.45am Contraception and family planning

Once-a-month contraceptive pill would improve women's lives

Kate Smurthwaite: A pill that's effective a month after unprotected sex will cause inevitable outrage but the more options we have, the better
11.20am Crime

Should people who spit in public face prosecution? | Poll

Poll
A London borough has brought a successful prosecution for spitting in the street. Waltham Forest took the action after two men refused to pay fixed penalty notices for the offence. The success of the legal action could set a precedent for other authorities. Should people who spit in the street face prosecution?
11.06am al-Shabaab

'White widow': public enemy No 1

Jamie Gilham: The very normality of Samantha Lewthwaite's background provokes, disturbs and fascinates
10.20am Domestic violence

Let's hope Eddie Kidd's courage changes attitudes over domestic abuse

Ally Fogg: Disabled people are twice as likely to suffer domestic violence – and as the motorcycle stuntman's sad story shows, that includes male victims
9.00am Labour conference 2013

Labour conference: why would anyone join the Labour party? - video

Video (8min 58sec)
John Harris and John Domokos: Ed Miliband is full of talk about Labour attracting new members in their thousands. The big idea, brought to the UK from a one-time mentor of Barack Obama, is 'community activism'. But how does it play on the streets of the south coast?
8.00am Ed Miliband

Steve Bell's If ... on Ed Miliband's Paxman gambit

Cartoon
Steve Bell's If ...
5.59am Trident

Trident: this £100bn Armageddon weapon won't make us one jot safer

Simon Jenkins: The consensus among the three main parties on nuclear deterrence merely illustrates the defence lobby's ability to scare politicians stupid
5.38am Environment

Take heart: combating climate change can happen at the individual level

Bronwen Clune: The Climate Commission came back to life thanks to donations. Good. We need to see ourselves as individuals choosing to fight climate change, backed by the government or not
4.24am Environment

Consumer boycott ban: does senator Richard Colbeck hate orangutans? | David Ritter

David Ritter: Tasmanian senator Colbeck wants to introduce a law to prevent boycotts of companies led by environmental groups. Such a move is an extraordinary illiberal attack on consumers' rights
1.07am Catholicism

Could Tony Abbott be more conservative than the Pope? | Erin Handley

Erin Handley: The idea that Catholicism is distinct from conservatism has new currency after Pope Francis' recent interview. The Australian left should engage with Catholicism's radical nature, not dismiss it
1.00am Hassan Rouhani

Iran: the stakes are high

Editorial: By the end of play in New York, both Mr Rouhani and Mr Obama had committed to direct dialogue
12.23am Ed Miliband

Steve Bell on Ed Miliband's speech in Brighton – cartoon

Cartoon
The Labour leader delighted the party faithful and picked his battles very deliberately
12.12am Australia

My plan for a Big Labor party

Bill Shorten: This is a tough time for our movement, but I want to build a party of big ideas which is deeply connected to the community and reflects our diverse nation