How selfish so ever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it. Of this kind is pity or compassion, the emotion which we feel for the misery of others, when we either see it, or are made to conceive it in a very lively manner. That we often derive sorrow from the sorrow of others, is a matter of fact too obvious to require any instances to prove it; … Continue reading Of sympathy by Adam Smith

Dr Syed Mansoor Hussain We in Pakistan cannot, under any acceptable scenario, either conquer Kashmir or wave the Pakistani flag on the Red Fort in Delhi. If once we accept these facts, then we can perhaps divert some of our limited national resources towards national development Here is a speech I would like to hear from my next Prime Minister. ‘My dear countrymen, I come to you as a candidate for Prime Minister. My political party will contest these elections on a platform of truth. I promise you that under no circumstances will I lie to the people of Pakistan. … Continue reading Words we may never hear in Pakistan!

Shahzad Chaudhry The army has its hands full in fighting terrorism and an insurgency, and cannot afford to take its eye off the ball; running governments is a passion for those in the military who have time to spare The system in question is the democratic system of governance, and the effort is to save it from getting derailed. Quiet clearly, that is the most popular sentiment, and yet democracy seems tentative and under siege. What might upstage re-instituted democracy in Pakistan? It certainly is not nascent; there have been, after all, at least 30 years out of the 62 … Continue reading Saving the system?

With all eyes on what comes in the wake of the London conference on Afghanistan and the accelerating engagement of the Afghan Taliban in talks about talks, our own problems with the Taliban and how we talk to them bear scrutiny. Perhaps the most pressing question is not what there is to talk about, but who to talk to? The Pakistan Taliban are far from being a homogenous or even harmonious entity. There are a number of groups arranged around charismatic individuals or held together by family relationships. The boundaries of these groups are sometimes fluid and always permeable. Conflicts … Continue reading The Mullah babel

My furry client bleats not guilty // // // // // <!– Remove following to not show photographer information –> <!– Remove following to not show image description –> Antoine Goetschel now lists animals as clients at his legal practice <!– Remove following to not show enlarge option –> // Bojan Pancevski and Matthew Campbell <!– –> SWITZERLAND is going to new extremes in the battle to improve life for its animals. The country of Heidi and cuckoo clocks will hold a referendum in March on whether domesticated creatures should have the right to be represented by lawyers in court. … Continue reading The Lawyer and his Pussy!

// // // // // <!– Remove following to not show photographer information –> <!– Remove following to not show image description –> A restricted report by the security service MI5 describes how China has attacked UK companies in a concerted hacking campaign <!– Remove following to not show enlarge option –> // David Leppard <!– –> THE security service MI5 has accused China of bugging and burgling UK business executives and setting up “honeytraps” in a bid to blackmail them into betraying sensitive commercial secrets. A leaked MI5 document says that undercover intelligence officers from the People’s Liberation Army … Continue reading China bugs and burgles Britain – yeah? and everyone else so why pick on China alone?

It’s all aboard the gravy train for Network Rail bosses While European train users get exemplary service, British rail bosses splash out on Highland estates Nick Cohen The Observer Anyone who loves the beautiful Argyll coast south of Tayvallich will know that the Edinburgh estate agents Rettie & Co were not exaggerating when they described the peninsula’s Keills Estate as “a rural idyll”. With Loch Sween on one side and the sea on the other, with views from its beaches to Islay and Jura, with deer-stalking and fishing rights open to negotiation, Rettie confidently expected a wealthy buyer to snap … Continue reading British rail bosses – dirty rotten thieving scumbags

The assault on our civil liberties has been long and laboured A noted Manchester QC writes to Observer columnist Henry Porter in support of his campaign Mark George The Observer, Dear Mr Porter, Your series of articles on civil liberty has prompted me to write on the wider impact of the continual assault on the rights of those accused of crime. We all remember the mantra of Labour in 1997 that they were going to be “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime”, but the reality is that the second limb of that soundbite has, in fact, … Continue reading British civil liberties being destroyed by political chavs