Wednesday's comment from the papers in...

Today in Times Comment

• Magnus Linklater: Injunctions are an infringement of freedom of expression and the public interest
• Daniel Finkelstein: Information about social norms is the reason why bandwagons get going in by-elections
• Phyllis Chesler: Long before the rise of the Taleban, I learnt not to romanticise Third World countries
• Peter Riddell: The Conservatives are eroding Labour's, and Gordon Brown's, most precious asset
• Joe Joseph: On top of everything else, we now must save the planet in our spare time as well. We are all personally responsible for our carbon footprint
• Alan Coren: Having read that 'the Jane Austen craze has permeated every level of the culture' I Googled this observation for myself
• Jan Raath: Zimbabwe has passed an indefinable tipping point. It is an elusive, unpredictable and fragile phenomenon

And from the rest of the papers…

• Simon Heffer: (The Daily Telegraph) - The Tories should follow the example of the Victorians and make a clear distinction between the deserving and undeserving rich
• Eric Anderson: (The Daily Telegraph) - Charitable status is a guarantee that schools are out to do the best for their pupils, rather than simply looking to make the most money
• Andrew Marr: (The Daily Telegraph) - I take in a new play about the shenanigans in the Tory whips' office of a hypothetical Cameron government
• Jonathan Freedland: (The Guardian) - A united Ireland is being created, not by arms but by the lure of cash
• Azzam Tamimi: (The Guardian) - Sunnis will not be persuaded that Iran is their real enemy
• Simon Jenkins: (The Guardian) - The cash-for-honours scandal will not stop MPs voting tonight to retain the lucrative status quo in the House of Lords
• Mark Steel: (The Independent) - Why not sub-contract the childminding to Branson?
• Miles Kington: (The Independent) - A few words of advice from our friends in Albania
• Deborah Orr: (The Independent) - We know what modern feminists look like, but do we know what they now believe?

And from around the world…

• Tunku Varadarajan: (The Wall Street Journal) - It may not bowl over Yanks, but cricket is a manly game
• Ruth Marcus: (Washington Post) - Listening to Rudy Giuliani's lacklustre speech to a conservative group last week, I was not convinced that he craves the Presidency
• Rami G. Khouri: (Lebanon Daily Star) - Give Israelis peace, but take from them
• Editorial: The trial of Lewis Libby provided some of the clearest evidence yet that this administration did not get duped by faulty intelligence on Iraq - New York Times

Comments

[Candadai Tirumalai]

A writer who can ignite a pervasive craze some three centuries after her time is a phenomenon. Harold Macmillan, the British Prime Minister, once told John Kennedy that he developed a headache if he had not read Jane Austen recently. I leave it to your readers to guess what private remark of Kennedy's drew forth this revelation.