Bush wrecked Somalia
The piracy crisis stems from the Bush Administration's intervention in Somalia in the name of the War on Terror, writes Martin Fletcher. In 2006 the country had been stabilised by the Islamic Courts movement. The US saw this movement as a new Taliban determined to impose the most draconian forms of Sharia on a terrified populace, and so it supported an invasion by predominantly Christian Ethiopia, Somalia's oldest bitter enemy. That replaced what was, for all its faults, Somalia's most effective government in memory with a deeply unpopular one led by former warlords, which had been cobbled together by the international community in Nairobi two years previously. Martin Fletcher The Times
Full article: How the War on Terror pushed Somalia into the arms of al-Qaeda 
In pictures: Pirates of Somalia
Briefing: Who are the million dollar pirates?
Newsdesk: Pirates want to talk
Somalia: a victim of Bush's recklessness
In defence of Osborne
Mr Osborne is doing fine, says Rachel Sylvester. The Shadow Chancellor has in recent days started to set out an economic policy that is both clear and distinctive from Mr Brown's. A bright blue line divides Labour and the Conservatives over the acceptable level of borrowing and the role of the State. Today, Mr Cameron will raise the stakes by admitting that the Tories would be willing to scale back spending on public services to pay for tax cuts. He thinks that he has shed his party's "nasty" image sufficiently to be able to take a tougher line. It is hard, though, to predict how voters will react. Rachel Sylvester The Times
Full article: It's Dave's head, not George's, they really want
The Mole: Cameron takes a gamble as he ditches Brown spending plans
How can there possibly be a "convention" that stops shadow chancellors from pointing out the baleful effects on sterling of an irresponsible fiscal policy? asks Boris Johnson. Surely that is the very definition of his job. Sterling is weak because Brown wasted all our money in the good times, water-cannoning it away. Of all the Government's pretences, perhaps the most sickening and self-serving is that there is no use crying over spilt milk, and that the most patriotic thing we can do is keep silent while Gordon the great helmsman gets on with saving the country and the world. Boris Johnson Daily Telegraph
Full article: Don't blame George Osborne, the falling pound is Gordon Brown's fault
Reform cohabiting
Forget marriage, says Mary Dejevsky. We should remove the disincentives to any stable relationship that are currently built into the tax and benefits system. Many parents who live together are effectively penalised if they are on a relatively low wage or, if for whatever reason, one or other does not work. It is not just right-wing apocrypha from job-centres that says so. You only have to do the calculations; housing benefit has a particularly deterrent effect to cohabitation. "Living apart together" has become a peculiarly British phenomenon. Our tax system should not make parents poorer if they choose to be one household rather than two. Mary Dejevsky The Independent
Full article: We won't improve society by penalising stable relationships
Don't overreact
The hysterical reaction to the death of Baby P is unhelpful, says Polly Toynbee. Surprisingly few children are murdered, given how many parents are drug addicted, psychotic, violent or profoundly inadequate. The number of children killed has fallen steadily - down 50 per cent in England and Wales since the 1970s. Is every child death preventable? Possibly. All children at any risk could be added to the 60,000 in care. But few doubt that, if parents are "good enough", children are best off with their own families. What Solomon can make the right call every time? There will always be catastrophic failures, but one case blasted out of all proportion can undo years of good. Polly Toynbee The Guardian
Full article: This frenzy of hatred is a disaster for children at risk
Soft and hard power
The hope is that America's soft power - its cultural popularity - will soon prevail again, says Paul Kennedy. But soft power alone can't keep America strong. Enthusiasm for Obama must be tempered by the realisation that he comes into office during one of the most difficult and troubled periods in modern history; that he is to run a country far less dominant, relatively, than at the time of Wilson, Truman and Kennedy; and that, while his international attractiveness is strong, great nations cannot survive on soft power alone. Paul Kennedy The Guardian
Full article: Soft power is on the up. But it can always be outmuscled
Alexander Cockburn: Obama's task
