Commentariat

Telegraph Opinion

What item could Franz Kafka have been so ashamed of that he kept it in a locked safe on his bookshelf - even taking the key on holiday with him, asks Glenda Cooper.

As Gordon Brown lies low and Barack Obama looks increasingly insubstantial, their opponents are coming to the fore, says Janet Daley.

Volunteers are the latest victims of this Government’s stubborn obsession with needless bureaucracy, says Philip Johnston.

The former prime minister’s achievements may not be too memorable, but he did launch the Lottery, which helps to fund our medal-winners, says Jim White.

Dostoyevsky’s insight into the mindsets of psychotic mass killers seems miraculously relevant and up to date, according to A.N. Wilson.

While hunting bans have helped protect these magnificent creatures, their future is far from secure.

How the West reacts to Russia’s action in Georgia will determine how far Russia is prepared to go.

Despite plans to increase water bills, water companies still fail to deliver

Summer pruning is a productive chore for the Bathursts of Cirencester

What a pity it is no longer the point of education to open up new avenues, says Melissa Kite

Musharraf’s life may not be in danger, but few of his countrymen can say the same, writes David Blair

Obama’s European grand-standing hasn’t gone down well with blue-collar voters in middle America.

Nick Baines, the Bishop of Croydon, reflects on a dramatic week spent with fellow bishops at the Lambeth conference discussing the future of the Church of England.

Lt Col Stuart Tootal explains that the Ministry of Defence’s shortchanging of Servicemen contributed to his decision to resign from the Army

All women in the American public eye are subjected to savage scrutiny of her appearance, wardrobe and personal life., writes Catherine Elsworth.

As a New Zealand judge issues a list of banned names we ask why, save for brute sadism, would anyone call their child “Number 16 Bus Shelter”?

I like to think I just crack on with life, but running a mile round the village every day for nine months destroyed the cartilage in one of my knees, writes Candida Lycett-Green.

With Thursday’s by-election on a knife-edge, Andrew O’Hagan asks how the party lost the loyalty of a city tied to its socialist foundations

Craig Brown hates football and he sometimes feels as lonely as the sole survivor in the last reel of a Zombie film because of it.

This lot just don’t get it, do they? We want fewer laws, not more. And we certainly don’t want Harriet Harman of all people telling companies who they can and cannot employ, says Andrew Pierce.

The row that threatens to split the Anglican Communion is about imperialism more than homosexuality, argues Charles Moore.

Oddballs, loonies and red-faced politicians are the essential ingredients of a great British event, says Philip Johnston.

It’s not so long ago that innocent black men could be sent to the electric chair just because their accusers were white, says Lionel Shriver.

There must be quite a few children pouring golden syrup on their suet pudding who do not realise that the quotation on the tin comes from the story of Samson in the book of Judges in the Bible, writes Christopher Howse.

A few years ago, when the tyrant of Zimbabwe was moving from being wicked to being downright evil, Simon Heffer wrote that we should invade Harare, depose him, and supervise free elections.