Articles
Pay the penalty
Cheating at work should come with penalties, even in sport, and perhaps culprits should be put on trial.
A heartwarming combination of human virtues
Sometimes it's easy to forget, but people have not become so desensitised as to have forgotten how to help their fellow human beings.
France urged to scrap street names glorifying slave trade
DiversCités, a group intent on persuading France to fully recognise its role in Europe's slave trade, tries to persuade ports to change street names.
In awe of the spoken word and the speechwriters' legacy
The spoken word, when combining eloquence, passion and perhaps a little wit, is one of the wonders of humanity.
The last refuge of a superscoundrel
The appearance of an extreme right-winger on British TV brings thoughts of an earlier time.
Fatherland recognises a child of war at last
The son of a Nazi soldier and French mother, Daniel Rouxel has become the first such child of hundreds of thousands to obtain German citizenship.
Is this the death of the blog, or just a premature retirement?
One of France's most famous bloggers is hanging up her hat. Does this signal the end of the blog?
Celebrity glitz? Why The Observer cannot be serious
In Tom Stoppard's play Night and Day, a bright-eyed young reporter, Jacob Milne, says people think "rubbish journalism is produced by men of discrimination who are vaguely ashamed of truckling to the lowest taste".
Lazy, hard-pressed sub editor makes a bid for glory
What am I bid for a signed printout of this column, with its reflections on what the late Eric Partridge described in the 1972 edition of his Usage and Abusage: a Guide to Good English as "vogue" words?
The road - or motorway - to good international relations
There's no equaliser greater than the motorway - we all feel superior to those ultimately making us targets of their abuse
Beware Greeks bearing pedantic questions of style
No matter how comprehensive a guide may be, someone will always come up with a point that has not been covered.
Empty churches, full mosques
Redundant churches in Scotland are being converted into mosques as Christian congregations dwindle and Muslims seek places to worship.
A fashion lesson in the form of plastic shoes
Colin Randall wears Crocs to pick his daughter up from the airport - and learns some ugly truths about fashion.
Have a nice day now ... No, honestly, I mean it
Fleeting everyday conversations contain plenty of phrases that seem, on reflection, to bear no real meaning or to disguise different meanings.
The English language is not always easier said than done
Former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien is not alone among politicians accused of mangling the English language.
