Politics must do better
Has Green's arrest put our freedoms in peril? asks Alice Miles. Come off it. It's not exactly the English Civil War, is it - Speaker Michael Martin seizing the Mace and tearing off to Hounslow Heath down the Staines Road. (Presumably by taxi. On expense account.) Do MPs not realise that standing on your dignity is only possible when you have sufficient dignity left to stand on? This is histrionics, not history; high farce, not tragedy; and cock-up, not conspiracy. The arrest was idiotic. It was wrong. End of story. Today is the Queen's Speech, the agenda for the next year, Parliament's big performance; show time. Our MPs must remember to look at their audience and address them, not themselves. Alice Miles The Times
Full article: And now for something far more important 
The Mole: Queen's pre-leaked speech
Governments of both major parties blunder and fail far more often than they used to, writes Anthony King. British governments increasingly resemble cleaning ladies: they break the crockery and scratch the furniture, but they never, ever own up. Most people think it would be nice if politicians just occasionally confessed to making a mistake. Inflated rhetoric, and dishonesty, undermines the ability of governments of all parties to persuade ordinary people to act in a disinterested, civic-minded way. If our politicians are such a shabby lot, why should we be any better? It would be sad if this country's public life came to resemble that of Greece or Italy. Anthony King Daily Telegraph
Full article: As the Queen opens Parliament, the chasm between politics and people widens
Like a messiah
Exhausted is the best word to describe the so-called arc of instability from the Mediterranean to Islamabad after eight years of western intervention, says Simon Jenkins. Yet any traveller to these parts at present is overwhelmed by Obamania. From the dinner tables of Lahore to the lecture halls of Beirut's American University, the president-elect carries an astonishing burden of expectation. To a people for whom George W Bush became synonymous with mindless anti-Americanism, Obama's race, name, moderation and lack of bombast have risen like a messiah from another land. Were he to visit Cairo or Beirut or even Tehran, he would be greeted as a custodian of promise. Simon Jenkins The Guardian
Full article: At last this exhausted region is energised - by its old foe
Please - no inquiry
I don't believe a public inquiry into the Baby P case is necessary, says Deborah Orr. I think the failings in Haringey are already perfectly clear. Why should they not be? They are, after all, the same failings that are revealed in almost every public inquiry, into almost every public service dereliction. Elaborate systems eat time and money, and destroy individual initiative and personal connection. The entire public sector is being taught to the test, ticking the boxes, filling in the multiple choices, and forgetting to think for itself. It is this that has to stop. Deborah Orr The Independent
Full article: One more inquiry isn't going to help
Free up public services
We have to try redesigning public services so that they can be maintained at a high standard without spending growing faster then the economy, says Daniel Finkelstein. We must allow for chaotic, greatly diverse public services, never settling on one model of provision. We must allow outside organisations to question the fundamental ideas that shape health provision or welfare provision. We must allow them to innovate and keep the money saved through innovation. That way there is a chance that public services, just like say, electronic goods, will keep improving without costing more. We can't carry on as we are, pretending that without reform our money will go farther. Daniel Finkelstein The Times
Full article: Better services without reform? It's just a con
Hillary makes sense
Why did he choose her? asks Anne Applebaum. Hillary Clinton has an almost unique ability to provoke irrational hatred in the breasts of total strangers. And her continuing ambition is obvious. But in fact her ambition will keep her loyal. Being a good secretary of state means, by definition, that she will have to carry out President Obama's foreign policy, not her husband's or her own. Any evidence of blatant disloyalty, not to mention any whiff of influence-peddling by her husband, would discredit her, perhaps forever. Any evidence of incompetence, not to mention any whiff of self-indulgent fantasy, would put her out of the game for good. Anne Applebaum Daily Telegraph
Full article: Hillary Clinton is a brilliant choice for US Secretary of State
American transition: Obama unveils dream team, including Hillary
