The commentators                       02-12-15

...on Syrian airstrikes

As MPs prepare to vote on whether or not the RAF should bomb Syria, the Chilcot report on the 2003 invasion of Iraq – the policy decision now widely recognised as the original sin that paved the way for Islamic State – should have been essential reading. MPs have instead been summoned to meetings to talk to “experts” – David Cameron’s reference to intelligence agencies that he is reluctant to identify after the disaster in Iraq. We are having to wait until next summer, more than 13 years after the invasion, to hear what Chilcot says about “lessons learned”, the main purpose of his inquiry
- Richard Norton Taylor, The Guardian
Jeremy Corbyn was elected precisely because of his opposition to things like the Syrian action. I firmly expect more Labour MPs — perhaps many more — will vote against action than for it. There is also a constituency in the country for his doubts about bombing. After the vote, he should prepare to reshuffle his shadow cabinet to ensure he has a shadow foreign secretary who shares his views. And at the same time he should signal to his Momentum friends that he is not going to stop them as they threaten MPs with deselection. The irony is that if Jeremy Corbyn wants a party that is against war, he needs to go to war in his party
- Daniel Finkelstein, The Times
Mary Riddell
MPs who have done all in their power to destabilise Mr Corbyn must take much blame for the inevitable success of the bombing vote. But so too must a leader who has alienated moderates, feigned autocracy and then, when the moment of truth arrived, backed down from ordering Labour to oppose air strikes and so removed the last obstacle to the PM’s plan. Mr Corbyn may rally or he may be doomed to the oblivion that many Labour backbenchers pray for. Either way, when the first British bombs fall, a leader with pacifism in his blood will know that he alone might have stopped the war. Whatever his political future, Jeremy Corbyn’s epitaph is already written
- Mary Riddell, Daily Telegraph
None of us can foresee how this will play out. But I have to say that the Prime Minister and our intelligence services are deluded if they really think that bombing will help solve the problem and that 70,000 Syrian armed rebels will then form those vital ‘boots on the ground’ to help us see off the most barbaric enemy that the world has seen in decades
- Michael Burleigh, Daily Mail
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Only a few years ago, the puff would have been chucked out the moment the scale of a story like this became apparent, partly as a matter of taste and partly to maximise the potential for display and give the story room to breathe. 
Last night only the Telegraph dispensed with the blurb - and that decision may have been influenced by the oversized ad at the foot of the page. The Times had signed up Bake-Off's Nadiya and wasn't about to surrender a millimetre of her promo. The Guardian was similarly wedded to its taste of autumn and the Mail to its Lego toy... but journalism was still the winner
How the papers covered the Paris attacks

Comment Awards, 2015

Teenage ebola diarist honoured

Observer
Tuesday 24 November, 2015 
A 13-year-old girl whose diary of life during the ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone made the Observer splash became the youngest winner at the EI Comment Awards in London today.
Bintu Sannoh was named young commentariat of the year for this piece about the crisis and two further articles about the stigma and poverty and hunger that came in the wake of the disease.  Six months later she was able to return to school - but she writes about how everything had changed, with only a third of pupils having survived.
Janan GaneshJanan Ganesh: double winner
Janan Ganesh emerged the sole double winner of the morning as the Financial Times took pride of place at the ceremony at the RIBA headquarters. He won the top accolade of commentariat of the year, having earlier been named political commentator of 2015.
His paper won the award for the best comment pages, Gillian Tett was business commentator and Michael Skapinker won the new prize for business ethics commentary.
The Times also claimed a clutch of prizes: David Aaronovitch was honoured for comment piece of the year for this article after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Jenni Russell won the new diversity award, Hugo Rifkind was arts and culture commentator and Sathnam Sanghera media commentator (in succession to SubScribe).
Other winners included Simon Jenkins, Gary Younge and Cory Doctorow of the Guardian, Allister Heath of the Telegraph, Channel 4, and the science writer Philip Ball.
The chairman's award went to Andrew Rawnsley, of the Observer, while the Sun punctured the domination of the broadsheets (even if few of them are physically broadsheets these days) by winning the eiDigest special award for its leader column. 
SubScribe was honoured and surprised to find a place on the individual blogger shortlist, but delighted to see the award go to Matthew Scott, whose excellent Barrister Blogger can be seen here
You can see all the winners here and the full shortlists here.

Comment archive, 2015

Calais
July 31 Calais
July 30 Calais
July 29 Labour leadership
July 28 Lord Sewel
July 27 Labour leadership
Picture
July 17 UK politics
July 16 UK politics
July 15 Iran
July 14 Greece
July 13 Greece
Greek debt
July 3 Grexit
July 2 Heathrow
July 1 Grexit
June 30 Grexit
June 29 Tunisian massacre
Labour hustings
June 19 Greece and Europe
June 18 UK politics
June 17 Politics
June 16 Social mobility
June 15 Politics
June 5 Fifa
June 4 Politics
June 3 Charles Kennedy
June 2 British politics
June 1 Fifa
labour leadership contenders
May 22 UK politics
May 21 UK politics
May 20 The Labour party
May 19 The NHS
May 18 UK politics
ballot box
May 8 General election
May 7 General election
May 6 General election
May 5 General election
Sturgeon and Salmond
April 24 General election
April 23 General election
April 22 General election
April 21 Drowned refugees
April 20 Scottish National Party
Westminster
April 10 General election
April 9 General election
April 8 General election
April 7 General election
Ed Miliband
March 27 Prince Charles's letters
March 26 UK politics
March 25 Cameron's exit strategy
March 24 Lee Kwan Yew
March 23 UK politics
Jim Murphy, Scottish Labour party conference
March 13 UK politics
March 12 Jeremy Clarkson
March 11 UK politics
March 10 UK politics
March 9 UK politics
Rifkind and Straw
February 27 UK politics
February 26 Minor party leaders
February 25 Natalie Bennett
February 24 Rifkind and Straw
February 23 World affairs
Merkel and Putin
February 13 UK politics
February 12 UK politics
February 11 UK politics
February 10 UK politics
February 9 Politics
Alexis Tsipras
January 30 Rape law
January 29 UK politics
January 28 UK politics
January 27 Greece
January 26 UK politics
Hebdo demo
January 16 World politics
January 15 Election debates
January 14 Charlie Hebdo
January 13 Charlie Hebdo
January 12 Charlie Hebdo
Jeremy Corbyn
July 24 Labour leadership
July 23 Labour leadership
July 22 Labour leadership
July 21 Counter-terrorism
July 20 Boris Johnson, Greece
Picture
July 10 Budget
July 9 Budget
July 8 The Budget
July 7 Greece
July 6 Taxation
Alexis Tsipras
June 26 Monarchy and Brexit
June 25 UK politics
June 24 UK politics
June 23 Greece
June 22 Greece
Merkel, Obama G7
June 12 Politics
June 11 Politics
June 10 Politics
June 9 Europe
June 8 Politics
Picture
May 29 Fifa
May 28 The Queen's Speech
May 27 Europe
May 26 UK politics
​
New Tory MPs
May 15 Ukip and Labour
May 14 The Labour party
May 13 The Labour party
May 12 UK politics
May 11 Scotland
Picture
May 1 General election
April 30 General election
April 29 General election
April 28 General election
April 27 General election
manifestos
April 17 General election
April 16 General election
April 15 General election
April 14 General election
April 13 General election
dissolution parliament
April 2 General election
April 1 General election
March 31 General election
March 30 Depression 
George Osborne
March 20 UK politics
March 19 The Budget
March 18 UK politics
March 17 Race in Britain
March 16 UK politics
Boris Nemtsov
March 6 Scotland and election
March 5 Isis
March 4 UK politics
March 3 Radicalisation
March 2 Russia
Copenhagen
February 20 UK politics
February 19 Chelsea and racism
February 18  UK politics
February 17 UK politics
February 16 Copenhagen 
education
February 6 UK politics
February 5 Isis atrocity
February 4 UK politics
February 3 UK politics
February 2 UK politics
Pope Francis
January 23 UK politics
January 22 Chilcot inquiry
January 21 Page Three
January 20 Anti-semitism 
January 19 Religion and freedom
Charb
January 9 Charlie Hebdo
January 8 Charlie Hebdo
January 7 UK politics
January 6 UK politics
January 5 UK politics
For EI daily digests from June to December 2014 please click here
Comment digest courtesy of
Editorial Intelligence
Picture
​December 1
Labour and Syria
​November 30
Syrian air strikes
Syrian airstrikes
November 27
Autumn statement
​November 26
Autumn Statement
​November 25
Russia in Syria
​November 24
Strategic defence review
November 23
​Paris attacks
Eiffel Tower

November 20
Politics
November 19
Paris attacks
November 18
Terrorism
November 17
Paris attacks
November 16
Paris attacks
Cenotaph
November 13
Politics
November 12
Politics
November 11
Politics
​November 10
Britain and Europe
​November 9
Remembrance Sunday
GCHQ
November 6
Sinai jet crash
November 5
UK politics
​November 4
​UK politics
November 3
State surveillance
​November 2
Politics
House of Lords
October 30
Politics
​October 29
Tax credits
October 28
Tax credits
​October 27
Tax credits
October 26
​Lords v Commons
Picture
October 23
UK politics
October 22
UK politics
​October 21
Xi Jinping
October 20
Xi Jinping visit
​October 19
Xi Jinping's visit
Picture
October 16
Politics
October 15
Politics
October 14
Politics
October 13
EU referendum
October 12
EU referendum
Picture
October 9
Politics
October 8
Cameron speech
October 7
Conservatives
​October 6
Conservatives
​October 5
Conservatives
Picture
​
October 2
UK politics
October 1
Labour conference
September 30
Labour conference
September 29
Politics
September 28
Volkswagen
Cameron and pig
September 25
Politics
​September 24
Volkswagen
September 23
Politics
September 22
"Pig-gate"
September 21
Politics
Jeremy Corbyn
September 18
Labour
September 17
Jeremy Corbyn
September 16
Jeremy Corbyn
September 15
Jeremy Corbyn
September 14
Jeremy Corbyn
Aylan
September 11
Jeremy Corbyn
September 10
Migrant crisis
September 9
Drone strikes
September 8
Migrant crisis
September 7 
Migrant crisis
European integration
September 4
Migrant crisis
September 3
Migrant crisis
September 2
Europe
September 1
Politics
Kings College Cambridge
August 28
Virginia TV shootings
August 27
Jeremy Corbyn
August 26
Politics
August 25
Politics
August 24
Labour leadership
Labour leadership candidates
August 21
Politics
August 20
Student debt
August 19
Labour leadership
August 18
Labour leadership
August 17
Labour leadership
Jeremy Corbyn
August 14
Labour leadership
August 13
Politics
August 12
Politics
August 11
Politics
August 10
Labour leadership
Camila Batmanghelidjh
August 7
Kids Company
August 6
Kids Company
August 5
Labour leadership
August 4
Labour leadership
August 3
Calais
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