According to a new survey, men don’t know certain crucial details about their wives. Jasper Gerard reports. By Jasper Gerard Telegraph Helen Hunt and Mel Gibson in What Women Want Photo: ICON FILMS Yesterday morning, I rushed in late for my daughter’s school play and sat next to a woman who I took to be my wife. Erroneously, as it turned out. No wonder she looked bemused when I asked her what she’d done with my jogging kit. According to a survey published yesterday, I needn’t feel too bad: millions of British men are ignorant of such basic information about … Continue reading Why men never know what women want

Keeping Yemen unstable and poor could ultimately be seen as being in the best interests of the rest of the Arabian peninsula Brian Whitaker guardian.co.uk Following last month’s international meeting aimed at saving Yemen from becoming a failed state, many hopes have been pinned on help that could be provided by Yemen’s neighbours – and especially the rich Arabs club, the Gulf Co-operation Council. The GCC states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – certainly have the money, and there’s a lot they could do to stimulate Yemen’s economic development. On the face of … Continue reading Can Gulf states really help Yemen?

Self-appointed judicial elites who blatantly have their own agendas should be subject to the same scrutiny as politicians Guy Sorman guardian.co.uk In democracies, justice is supposed to be independent. Some prosecutors and investigating magistrates, however, conveniently forget this. Indeed many among them are deeply enmeshed in politics, pursuing agendas – and vendettas – of their own. The phenomenon of politicised prosecutors and investigating magistrates is becoming global, arising in democracies as diverse as Japan, Italy, France, Spain, Turkey and Argentina. In all these countries, prosecutors and magistrates hurl accusations of corruption against governments and ruling parties – charges that also … Continue reading The treason of the magistrates

As Iran prepares for its anniversary celebrations, the republic’s rulers face broad-based and steadfast pressure for change Masoud Golsorkhi guardian.co.uk Tomorrow the people of Iran are set to attend massive national gatherings to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution. Iranians everywhere know that this will be no ordinary celebration. Never before have the fruits and the future direction of the revolution been viewed with so much uncertainty. The disputed election last summer and the government’s reaction was a catalyst for the most profound challenge to the ruling establishment in its entire history. As a teenager swept up by … Continue reading Iranians are reclaiming their revolution

As elsewhere in the public sector, the problem is not just boom-to-bust funding – it’s that cuts are in all the wrong places Sheila Lawlor guardian.co.uk The row over university cuts does no credit to the government, nor to those universities that have been panicked into destroying the only thing they have to offer – academic teaching. Lord Mandelson has announced cuts of 5%. They come on top of earlier cuts. But the problem is not just less money. The government seems set on attacking the academic subjects in the humanities while promoting its agenda for “access”. If those in … Continue reading Labour’s dumb university cuts

I found myself named on a website’s ‘shit list’, which lists thousands of ‘self-hating and/or Israel-threatening’ Jews Yigal Bronner guardian.co.uk Funny, but only recently it was brought to my attention that I am listed in the Jewish “Shit List” (where “Shit” stands for Self-Hating and/or Israel-Threatening), by some wacky rightwing organisation (masada2000.org). I clicked on the site and found myself perversely fascinated by the world I entered. What struck first me was the size of the list. There are thousands and thousands of us self-haters and threat-posers. Israel must be in great and imminent danger. The main criterion for being … Continue reading Antisemitism without bounds

By Peter Allen The architect of France’s burka ban has been forced to deny claims he will convert to Islam to marry his secret Muslim girlfriend. Eric Besson, the country’s 51-year-old immigration minister, has admitted the relationship with Yasmine Tordjman, a Paris art student less than half his age. But the hardline conservative threatened legal action when a website suggested the pair, who have set up home together, might marry, which under Islamic law means he would have to convert. Enlarge   Setting up home: French Immigration Minister Eric Besson with his young Muslim girlfriend Yasmine Tordjman at the France … Continue reading French burka ban minister denies planning to convert to marry secret Muslim lover

By Beth Hale A Hindu grandfather has won the right to be cremated on a traditional open-air funeral pyre in Britain. Davender Ghai, 71, believes such a cremation is essential to the liberation of his soul after death. His local authority and the Ministry of Justice said the ancient practice of ‘natural cremation’ breached the 1902 Cremation Act, but the Court of Appeal ruled Mr Ghai’s request could be accommodated under existing laws. Joy: Davender Ghai salutes his court success as he’s raised aloft by friends and family Yesterday’s landmark ruling means thousands of Hindus, Sikhs and anyone else wanting … Continue reading British Grandfather wins ‘human right’ to be cremated on open-air funeral pyre

Zubair Torwali The Pashtun living on either side of the Durand Line are bearing the brunt of both terrorism and counter-terrorism. They have suffered because of the “jihad” against the former USSR. They have suffered also because they fulfil a government’s need for “strategic depth.” Now it is mostly the so-called war on terror. In this violent game the major players never bothered about the people whom they used in the furtherance of their regional agendas. What happened in the region, and what is happening in it now, is the result of the sharply conflicting agendas of the major players … Continue reading Grievances

Yusuf H Shirazi The “Aman ki Asha” initiative of the Jang Group and the Times of India group is indeed laudable. It is a step in the right direction. The people of India and Pakistan have long aspired for peace. However, the realisation of this ‘Asha’ is not possible without the two governments sharing. Peace, and thus the welfare for the people of the subcontinent, lies in political, economic and social harmony between the two countries. Whichever way one may wish to interpret the history of the two countries’ independence, in the present situation it is only political, economic and … Continue reading A laudable initiative