Rupert Cornwell



Profile:
Full name: Rupert Cornwell

Area of interest: US politics and affairs of state, World affairs

Journals/Organisation: The Independent | The Independent on Sunday

Email: [mailto:r.cornwell@independent.co.uk r.cornwell@independent.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/author/rupert-cornwell

Blog:

Representation:

Networks: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rupert-cornwell/6/10a/2a5



Biography:
About:

Education:

Career: "With The Independent since its launch in 1986, he was the paper's first Moscow correspondent... Previously a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times and Reuters, he has also been a diplomatic correspondent, leader writer and columnist, and has served as Washington bureau editor." (source: The Independent) Current position/role: Chief US commentator: also contributes obituaries and occasional sports comment


 * also writes/written for:

Other roles/Main role:

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

Broadcast media: Occasional broadcast appearances

Video:

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours: Won two British Press Awards while covering the collapse of the Soviet Union for The Independent

Scoops:

Other: Half brother of spy novelist David John Moore Cornwell, aka John le Carre



Books & Debate:

 * God's banker: the life and death of Roberto Calvi (1985) OCLC 12504472 (researched while Rome-based reporter for The Financial Times)

Latest work:

Speaking/Appearances:

Debate: 

The Independent:
Column name: Out of America

Remit/Info: International relations and US politics

Section:

Role: Chief US commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:r.cornwell@independent.co.uk r.cornwell@independent.co.uk]

Website: Independent.co / Rupert Cornwell

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Sundays (but not always), and occasional weekdays and Saturdays

Regularity: Frequent

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2017

 * Ivanka Trump could prove to be the most powerful first daughter in US history - For years, Trump identified if anything as a Democrat, and some of that must have rubbed off on his daughter. Jared Kushner too came from a Democrat-leaning background, and in New York, friends say, the couple moved in a broadly liberal milieu - 4th March
 * Forget Donald Trump – Steve Bannon was the real star of CPAC - The battle between Trump’s version of conservatism and the conventional variety is not yet decided. It may yet be he makes one error too many and the establishment rallies its forces, and stages its counter-coup - 26th February
 * Donald Trump can criticise the 'mainstream media' all he likes, the press will continue to do its job brilliantly - Trump’s constant remarks about ‘fake news’ and ‘dishonest journalists’ can’t change the fact that the press is working tirelessly to hold the White House to account - 19th February
 * Donald Trump is finally realising that you cannot run the US government like a business - You can’t blame Trump for being furious at the judiciary. Many presidents have felt the same. Back in the 1930s FDR threatened to pack the Supreme Court with new liberal justices when it blocked his New Deal initiatives - 12th February
 * The Senate's confirmation of Betsy DeVos may be historic – but it’s also a sign of how far the Capitol's warfare has sunk - Normally, when a nomination has become controversial, things aren’t allowed to go this far – candidates usually pull out of their own volition - 8th February
 * Rex Tillerson may not be popular – but he could be the moderate voice that the Donald Trump administration needs - Restoring the State department’s morale and sense of purpose is Tillerson’s first task. However, a second and far more important one is to ensure his own and State’s clout within the administration, at a moment when conventional diplomacy seems anathema to the new president - 5th February
 * Nuclear war is no longer the stuff of dystopian novellas – it's a very real and immediate threat - The Doomsday Clock shows we're closer to the apocalypse than we have been since the 1950s. Thanks to Trump's comments on climate change and nuclear arms, we should take it very seriously - 29th January
 * Donald Trump: why we should judge this President by his deeds, not his words - In his rhetoric, Trump is playing to his base: the core support in the American heartlands and the rust belt states. The focus should be on what he is actually doing – and he’s doing plenty - 26th January
 * Donald Trump’s Cabinet proves he believes government is just like running a business. He’s about to get a shock - Corporate bosses are accustomed to having everything their own way. Give an order, and it will be carried out. Government has molasses-thick bureaucracy that can blunt and delay implementation of the most firmly-delivered instruction - 22nd January
 * I've lived through six presidential inaugurations, and this is the scariest. America's day of reckoning is here - America’s political fissures, evident in the election and its bitter aftermath, are now ingredients in this most unusual of inaugurations. Incoming presidents normally take over with a modicum of goodwill and at least the benefit of the doubt, but this looks quite different - 20th January
 * This is how the allegations against Donald Trump – and the press conference that followed – will affect his presidency - This new firestorm will complicate the confirmation hearings of top appointees like the Secretary of State-in-waiting, the former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, already accused of too cosy a relationship with the Kremlin. And as for Trump's future relationship with intelligence agencies, we should be worried - 12th January
 * Donald Trump's conflicts of interest are worse than you think – and they could end up bringing down his presidency - A sale of the Trump Organisation, with its 515 subsidiaries, would be exceedingly complicated. Done on a shotgun basis, it could cause its chief shareholder considerable tax losses - 10th January
 * Mike Pence is now the only thing standing between madness and sanity - Trump’s style could not be more different than Pence's. To call the President-elect disruptive and contrarian might be compliments, were it not for the narcissism and bombast, the bloated but egg-shell fragile ego, and the reckless disregard for truth - 7th January



Articles: 2016

 * US and Russia relations fall to their worst since the Cold War - The Obama administration is determined to punish Russia over its alleged cyberattacks - 30th December
 * Despite Barack Obama's mixed legacy, he must take some responsibility for the rise of Donald Trump - For his own party, this president has been a disaster. Over his two terms, it has surrendered control of the Senate and House in Washington, and more than a dozen governor’s mansions and state legislatures across the land, over 1,000 seats in all - 24th December
 * Will Russia’s 'act of war' against American democracy bring Donald Trump down? - By making nice with the Kremlin, the incoming president has broken with 35 years of Republican orthodoxy – now there’s even talk of another Watergate Committee to investigate him - 17th December
 * John Glenn's death signals the end of the American hero - Glenn was the embodiment of heartland values, of all that America sees as best in itself. He was a decent and patriotic, hardworking, sensible and down to earth. Today, plenty of eminent midwesterners still tick all these boxes. But none of them comes close to national hero status - 10th December
 * Donald Trump's transition is running smoother than Obama's – but will it last? - Why the fuss over Trump’s children and son-in-law, and their possible role in the future White House? Leave aside the fact that when they were showcased during the campaign, they invariably came across as more presentable and presidential than their father - 20th November
 * Don’t expect prospective Secretary of State Giuliani to keep to the diplomatic niceties - Unlike the president-elect, Rudy Giuliani favours a generally more muscular US approach to the world, including Russia, and despite the talk of a Trumpian ‘reset’ with Moscow - 17th November
 * Donald Trump has never listened to anybody in his entire life – why would he start now? - Technically, he’s a Republican. But in spirit Trump is an independent protest candidate, smart enough to realise the only way he could win was under the aegis of one of America’s two major parties - 13th November
 * Donald Trump’s supporters let out a primal scream against Washington - What scares the world about Trump is exactly what his followers like about him - 10th November
 * Hillary Clinton's main opposition is not Donald Trump – but the FBI - As 'October surprises' go, this was a 10-megaton bomb. Donald Trump’s claim that the case is bigger than Watergate may be nonsense. But with his action, Comey turned the campaign on its head - 5th November
 * Hillary Clinton may win the White House – but the battle for the Supreme Court will continue - The implication is that Republicans, even if they lose control of the Senate on November 8, will filibuster any Clinton candidate to death - 29th October
 * Is America still an 'indispensable' nation? Their foreign policy disagreements say otherwise - The US is still the planet’s most powerful country, boasting the largest and most innovative economy. But the gap is narrowing – Russia is resurgent, while economically China has more or less caught up with the US - 23rd October
 * How Donald Trump threw away his very last chance to impress - America can only hope the pattern of Hillary Clinton's political career continues to hold: she's always been better in office than when running for it - 21st October
 * Bill Clinton always was a ‘hard dog to keep on the porch’ – is he now a drag on Hillary’s campaign? - Bill’s biggest drawback lies in the prospect of a Clinton restoration: a couple of times sons have followed fathers to the White House, but never before has a president followed his or her spouse into the Oval Office - 8th October
 * Don't write Donald Trump off after his disastrous debate - He still has a good chance of winning the presidency
 * During the Presidential debate Donald Trump lost at his own game - Trump had the chance to show that the ‘new’ Trump of recent weeks, the one that acts presidential and has statistically pulled level with Clinton in the polls, was here to stay. But on display was the old Trump: bullying, dyspeptic and hyperbolic - 28th September
 * Donald Trump's new hotel is not the most important new building on Pennsylvania Avenue – whatever he tries to tell you - The National Museum of African American History and Culture opens on Saturday 24th September, 12 days after Trump’s hotel. And this time, by contrast, there’ll be a very great deal of fanfare indeed - 17th September
 * Forget Hillary Clinton's medical records – what we really need to see is the state of Donald Trump's tax returns - Trump refuses to release his tax returns, seeking to hide goodness knows what. That he doesn’t pay a cent in tax? That he’s in cahoots with Russian oligarchs? - 16th September
 * Native American land is under threat again – who will step in to defend it from destruction? - All the ingredients for trouble are there: protesters and security guards, augmented now by National Guardsmen called out by North Dakota’s governor. Everyone insists they want to avoid further violence, but a single mistaken gesture and tempers could boil over again - 10th September
 * Donald Trump is painting a new image of himself - and it may just secure him the presidency - There was Trump on the world stage, saying the right things at the joint press conference afterwards, the personification of diplomacy and politeness. Heavens, one thought, maybe he wouldn’t be so bad after all, maybe he wouldn’t press the nuclear button at a perceived insult during an international summit - 3rd September
 * The high-school dropout who turned ‘Murder Capital USA’ into a model of how to police a city - Washington used to be ‘Murder Capital USA’. Now the city’s annual murder rate has fallen by three quarters – and no incident of brutal police over-reaction against the black community has made national headlines - 21st August
 * Yes, he can close Guantanamo Bay – but Obama wasted the best chance to do it years ago - Obama has a two-week window in the first half of January when he's still president but the new Congress will have convened. He must take it if this blot on the US reputation is to end - 18th August
 * Presidential holidays are as polarised as American politics - Presidential holidays and golf could take on an entirely new dimension. Forget Hillary, who has never betrayed an ounce of interest in the sport. I refer of course to one Donald J. Trump. He doesn’t just play golf courses – he owns them - 13th August
 * Donald Trump hinting at a Hillary Clinton assassination isn't the last straw – his campaign is already over - Donald Trump is in way over his head. His presidential bid was killed by a thousand mostly self-inflicted cuts - 10th August
 * Donald Trump is right – election fraud will occur in the Presidential elections - America's rich lore of alleged election fraud makes it hard to deny that vote rigging does occur, even in this beacon of the free world. And indeed it does. It’s called suppression of turnout, and it’s practised by Republicans, not Democrats - 6th August
 * Donald Trump’s days are numbered as the Republican knives come out - If he’d thrown away his phone and gone to a desert island for a fortnight after the Republican convention, he’d probably be ahead right now. Instead, his actions have led to Hillary Clinton being ahead by ten points in a Fox News poll - 5th August
 * The two states Clinton needs to win to beat Trump - Can Clinton recapture the magic that led her husband to power in 1992? - 30th July
 * Bernie Sanders has unleashed a revolution he can't control – and 'Bernie or Bust' voters could let Trump win - He could have done a Ted Cruz, the bitter runner-up who goes to the convention and still refuses to endorse his conqueror on the floor. That would have thrilled his die-hard followers. He's chosen to live in 'the real world – but have the 'Bernie or Bust' crowd? - 26th July
 * Hillary Clinton is on track to beat Donald Trump – but it all depends on Bernie Sanders - Most polls show Clinton three or four points ahead, but the latest police killings at home, and terrorist incidents abroad can only strengthen Mr Trump’s appeal - 23rd July
 * Minnesota, Ferguson, Louisiana: How racial tensions have worsened under the first black President - So much for the gauzy illusions of November 2008 - 19th July
 * Hillary may not have been charged – but the public will not forget the email scandal - Offered this sort of present four months before election day, any other Republican opponent would have cashed in – not Trump, who has concentrated instead on the US judicial system - 9th July
 * Americans don't care about the Chilcot report - their anger at Bush subsided long ago - One of Blair’s correct observations – in a letter to Bush setting out his political difficulties at home – was that “people just don't have the same sense of urgency post 9/11 as people in the US" - 6th July
 * Elie Wiesel’s life was a metaphor for Israel and its politics - The apparent indifference of the Nobel laureate, who has died aged 87, to the Palestine question pales beside his service to history - 3rd July
 * The factors that propelled Brexit could solidify a victory for Trump - Sections of the Republican Party may loathe Trump, but just as ‘Brexit means Brexit’ so the primaries have delivered their verdict - 2nd July
 * Donald Trump has a lot in common with Brexit campaigners, but that doesn't mean he can win - The respective voting patterns in Britain and the US are closely aligned. If you’re older you’re more likely to be pro-Trump and pro-Brexit. The young and better educated in the UK take Europe for granted. In America, they’re mostly immune to the appeal of Trump. Unfortunately, the old vote, and the young aren’t - 25th June
 * The Democratic sit-in over gun control is destined to fail - Paul Ryan dismissed the protest as a ‘publicity stunt’ – and, though it pains me to say it, he’s right - 24th June
 * We are adopting the nastiness of American politics in our own system - Clinton-Trump is set to be one of the nastiest presidential battles ever. However by Britain’s more sedate political standards, the Brexit referendum has been a pretty torrid affair, full of angry words, insults and apocalyptic warnings - 18th June
 * The Republican Party needs to reinvent itself – for the sake of America - Whether Trump wins or loses, the old Republican Party will be dead - 11th June
 * This is what Hillary Clinton must do to beat Donald Trump - A new, less cautious Hillary is emerging – but she must resist being dragged into the swamp by her opponent - 8th June
 * Hillary Clinton is on the attack – and after lambasting Sanders she is going for Trump - Donald Trump is the main enemy now, not Bernie Sanders. For weeks he’s been lambasting Clinton and now she’s finally starting to mount some serious return fire, while reminding California voters of her strongest selling point: her experience - 4th June
 * Obama was right to remove offensive terms from US laws – so why does the word 'alien' survive? - Dr Martin Luther King used the term 'negro' no fewer than 13 times in his most famous speech. But that was over 50 years ago. Times change and so does the significance of individual words - 28th May
 * So what exactly is Donald Trump hiding in his unpublished tax returns? - Maybe he pays little or no tax, but 60 per cent of independent voters – which he needs if he is to win in November – want him to release his returns, and half of Republicans believe he should too - 26th May
 * Why won't Bernie Sanders step down for the sake of the American Left? - Sanders' most passionate followers are urging him to run as a third party candidate if he loses, which would hand the election to Trump - 22nd May
 * President Obama will visit Hiroshima – but he won't apologise to the Japanese - Obama's presidency has been filled with firsts – Cuba, a prison visit and now Hiroshima – but he doesn't intend on feeding into Trump's view that America is weak and apologetic - 14th May
 * The rapprochement between Donald Trump and the Republicans he insulted will not happen overnight - The meeting in Washington DC was probably the first of many - 13th May
 * Hillary Clinton looks as though she's struggling - but with Obama's support she will succeed in the end - 25 per cent of Sander's supporters claim they would note vote for Hillary in the Presidential election - but history shows that this is unlikely to be the case - 7th May
 * Students in the US are demanding slavery reparations from their universities. But how much can modern institutions give? - The protests at Georgetown, Princeton and Harvard raise two questions: Where does this re-examination of US history end, and what should be done to make amends? - 1st May
 * The deal between Ted Cruz and John Kasich is too little too late - In a normal election year, Kasich would long since have thrown in the towel, but he's hoping to play the role of white knight - 26th April
 * We're heading for an American first: Trump vs Clinton – a presidential fight between two hated candidates - After New York, Trump must try to win over a party that detests him, while Clinton has been too well known for too long to be loved - 21st April
 * We're heading for an American first: Trump vs Clinton – a presidential fight between two hated candidates - After New York, Trump must try to win over a party that detests him, while Clinton has been too well known for too long to be loved - 20th April
 * The death penalty situation in the US has just become even more absurd - something has to give - 743 inmates are on California's death row - but only 13 have been executed since 1978, the last one a decade ago. And all this at a cost of no less than $4bn in taxpayers' money - 16th April
 * Republicans have scuppered America’s opportunity to reform its prisons - and this time it is not Trump’s fault - The US, with around 5 per cent of the world’s population, accounts for 25 per cent of its prison inmates, many of them serving grotesquely long sentences for relatively minor drug and theft offences - 8th April
 * Ted Cruz is hated by his party, but he's the only man who can stop Trump - Cruz may be disliked, but he’s a brilliant debater, quick on his feet and has run a flawless campaign. That's why he's still standing today - 2nd April
 * Merrick Garland was a centrist appointment by Obama - so why is he causing such a split? - Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, is playing 'lousy politics' over the new Supreme Court Justice - 26th March
 * Trump might not be good for America, but he's great for TV networks - Out of America: Fawning over the billionaire’s every outlandish word and deed has brought him $1.9bn in free publicity. So much for democracy - 20th March
 * US Election 2016: Be afraid, be very afraid - Donald Trump is his own foreign policy adviser - He’s a nativist, a mercantilist and a neo-isolationist, who is not afraid to turn long-term allies into enemies. And Trump will mainly be trusting his instinct - 18th March
 * US Election 2016: Trump card could secure victory over Clinton in game of demographics - Both likely major party nominees are viewed unfavourably by a majority of the electorate - 16th March
 * Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump are helping change American attitudes towards Canada - Out of America: US citizens tend to see their neighbours as nice, earnest, and a little dull. Trump and Trudeaumania are changing all that - 13th March
 * US Election 2016: Trump’s rise exposes the rift between Republican grandees and the party's traditional voters - Out of America: Getting rid of Trump is not enough. The GOP must change the policies that opened the way for him, otherwise, it may be doomed - 6th March
 * US Election 2016: Donald Trump could hold the winning hand in the race for the Republican presidential nomination - Out of America: Although he pays lip-service to Republican orthodoxy, he is connecting with ordinary voters with his outsider’s views - 28th February
 * Syria civil war: Barack Obama's policy has utterly failed and left him looking less effectual on the world stage than any president since Jimmy Carter - Out of America: The cool, rational President expected others involved in the crisis to act just as rationally in finding a solution - 14th February
 * Donald Trump can be stopped from winning the Republican nomination - but only if things happen, and fast - Out of America: The Republican establishment has lost control of proceedings. Faced by a billionaire beholden to no one, its endorsements, its threats and its fund-raising levers simply don’t matter - 31st January
 * Concussion in the NFL: The dying game - For millions of Americans this is the best part of the sporting year as the NFL reaches its climax. But this January the excitement has been undermined by a new Hollywood film that tells how the sport is literally killing those who play it. By Rupert Cornwell in Washington - 11th January
 * Donald Trump railing against political correctness seems to have struck a chord with Americans of every persuasion - Out of America: The bigoted bully's followers are Republicans, but also independents as well as blue-collar Democrats who never bought the Obama message - 11th January



Articles: 2015

 * Spotlight may be the finest film about journalism yet made - Out of America: It shows how paedophile priests were exposed by The Boston Globe and is better even than All the President’s Men - 21st December
 * San Bernadino killings: The US is dying for new gun laws. Again - As long as owning weapons is considered a human right, the country will be terrorised by its own population - 6th December
 * Students for free speech and against racism should work together - It’s a disturbing reflection of where power resides at a US place of learning that it took a downing of tools by the football team, rather than a hunger strike, to get results - 15th November
 * Before Jeb Bush can 'fix America', he’s somehow got to fix his own abysmal presidential campaign - The Bush brother who was thought to be a shoo-in for the Republican nomination is facing a meltdown - 1st November
 * Joe Biden: His decision not to run for the presidency in 2016 marks the end of a political era - Popular with friends and foes alike, his tactile, what-you-see-is-what-you-get style has been a perfect foil for the aloof President Obama - 26th October
 * Sports betting ban in most US states is odds on to end soon - The FBI is investigating insider trading in US sports betting, in a country where it is only legal in four states - 18th October
 * Joe Biden presidential bid: It’s time for the US Vice-President to decide if he will run for the White House - Mr Biden will decide this weekend if he will join the race – and become a serious challenger to Hillary Clinton - 11th October
 * Donald Trump is breaking all the rules, and the voters love him for it – but he could end up destroying his party -America has a hankering for political outsiders, who thrive when times seem bad - 30th August
 * Joe Biden considers his final chapter: There's the glimmer of an opening for the vice-president - It has become the norm for vice-presidents to run, but factors from Hillary Clinton to a family tragedy have intervened - 23rd August
 * Carolina's Lost Colony: The fate of the first British settlers in America was a mystery... until now - They arrived two decades before the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts, but the 115 colonists then vanished - 16th August
 * ID regulations: A supreme injustice for Democrats - No one will admit it, but changes are plainly meant to deter black, minority and poor elderly voters - 9th August
 * Republican presidential debates: This week's event promises rich entertainment, but is a nightmare in waiting for party grandees - Donald Trump's surge to the top of the polls has turned the contest for a run at the White House on its head - 2nd August
 * It's too soon to put trust in Tehran - while Jason Rezaian and others languish in Iranian jails - Out of America: Historic nuclear talks between Iran and the US failed to lead to the release of a jailed 'Washington Post' correspondent - 26th July
 * Time to lay these myths about the Deep South to rest - Out of America: 'Heritage' is a loaded word in the Dixie, but the Charleston killings show how dangerous it is to cling to a deadly past - 27th June
 * US Supreme Court on trial: Has it become too powerful for the good of the country? - Out of America: The nation awaits rulings on equal marriage and Obamacare, but are the nine judges over-reaching themselves? - 21st June
 * A reputational rewrite for George W Bush proves that presidential pardons are all the rage - Out of America: As a poll shows that 'Dubya' is more popular than Barack Obama, Americans appear willing to forgive and forget - 7th June
 * Fifa corruption: The officials are caught in the web of US legal imperialism - where double standards don't get in the way - Out of America: The executives ensnared by America's extraterritorial authority are only the latest examples of this fearsome power - 31st May
 * In foreign policy Barack Obama is proving to be the supreme pragmatist - Americans want another land war in the Middle East like a hole in the head - 23rd May
 * Washington sees Britain as its closest ally, but feels it is failing to live up to expectations on the world stage - The election outcome does not change the fact that the 'special relationship' is currently less special than it has been for decades - 10th May
 * Dissent is slowly building against the billions spent on presidential campaigns – even among politicians - In the 2014 congressional mid-terms, parties and candidates spent $3.7bn. This time, the figure will be far higher - 26th April
 * Fears in the US of being outgunned in the vital propaganda wars by Russia, China - and even Isis - have prompted a rethink on overseas broadcasters - 'Accurate, objective, comprehensive': that was Voice of America's creed, but now its masters want it to promote US policy - 20th April
 * Republican presidential hopefuls face a crowded field in the battle to reach the White House - The race to be the GOP's 2016 candidate has begun. Its winner will need broad appeal, stamina - and buckets of money - 12th April
 * Number plates scheme could provide a licence to offend in the land of the free - Cash-strapped states have hit on a way of making money out of drivers that may be in collision with the First Amendment - 29th March
 * The US economy is under threat because of its neglected infrastructure - Out of America: Public spending on roads, airports, bridges, railways and power grids is only half of Europe's, and some say the nation’s very prosperity is threatened - 22nd March
 * The US Secret Service are now more House of Cards than real the heroes of yesteryear - They are under fire - and with a string of scandals and bungles in the past few years, it's not surprising - 14th March
 * Time is running out for Hillary Clinton. She must declare her candidacy quickly before the email brouhaha builds up steam - She's the Democrats' only hope for the presidency, but has caused controversy by using her personal email for government business - 8th March
 * War or peace, Obama just can't win - No one wants another Iraq, but that doesn’t stop the President being criticised on all sides for caution on the world stage - 22nd February
 * Ukraine crisis: Putin is counting on fact West has no desire for war - A flimsy figleaf is enough for those with no stomach for a fight - 20th February
 * From a US presidential candidate you want gravitas, but all too often you get gaffes - For politicians keen to polish their global statesman image, crossing the Atlantic - in both directions - has many pitfalls - 15th February
 * The road to equality was a long and lonely one for Charlie Sifford - Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks are being honoured this month, but the golfer, who has just died, also merits a place in history - 8th February
 * The open loathing between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu just got worse - The Israeli PM's relationship with the Obama has always been chilly, but going over the President's head on Iran will do him no favours - 1st February



Articles: 2014

 * War or peace, Obama just can't win - No one wants another Iraq, but that doesn’t stop the President being criticised on all sides for caution on the world stage - 22nd February
 * Ukraine crisis: Putin is counting on fact West has no desire for war - A flimsy figleaf is enough for those with no stomach for a fight - 20th February
 * From a US presidential candidate you want gravitas, but all too often you get gaffes - For politicians keen to polish their global statesman image, crossing the Atlantic - in both directions - has many pitfalls - 15th February
 * The road to equality was a long and lonely one for Charlie Sifford - Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks are being honoured this month, but the golfer, who has just died, also merits a place in history - 8th February
 * The open loathing between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu just got worse - The Israeli PM's relationship with the Obama has always been chilly, but going over the President's head on Iran will do him no favours - 1st February
 * The American hysteria that led to CIA torture - Amid the justifiable recriminations, it is too easy to forget that 3,000 people were killed in the US in one day - 14th December
 * CIA torture report: A victory for moral outrage and a blow for US democracy - Torture report confirms fears expressed about CIA when it was formed in 1947 - 10th December
 * Eric Garner 'chokehold' death: A grand jury blind to the evidence before it - The decision not to bring charges after the death of a black man in police custody suggests a fatal flaw in the system - 7th December
 * US considers a change in the law to allow gambling on sports - Nearly a century after the 'Black Sox' affair, official America is starting to clamour for a slice of the action - 30th November
 * Bill Cosby: from America's dad to sexual predator - Stories of his alleged sexual assaults may have circulated widely in Hollywood, but they came as a shock to fans - 22nd November
 * Someone tell President Obama he lost the midterms — he's busier than he's been in years - He seems fired up by defeat, and has ploughed ahead on climate change, the internet... and now immigration - 16th November
 * Please don't run for office, Angelina Jolie - The actress has hinted her future may lie in Washington, but she would surely be depressed by its deeply flawed system - 9th November
 * Ebola in the US: Panic over the virus threatens to infect President Obama's midterms - Just one person has died, yet November's elections may be affected by what Republicans call 'Obama's Katrina' - 19th October
 * The power of political memoirs: Barack Obama skewered by the pens of insiders - Memoirs by two former secretaries of defense and directors of the CIA give a depressing impression of a flagging presidency - 12th October
 * US secret service crisis: Is there someone – anyone – in control in America? - The latest lapse by the US Secret Service, with an armed man breaking into the White House, is a sign of a deeper malaise - 5th October
 * The Supreme Court is a life sentence for Ruth Bader Ginsburg - After 21 years, she might like to retire, but that would probably let in a right-winger, so she feels she can't - 28th September
 * Where are today's Roosevelts? - A television series reveals the flaws of a great political dynasty – flaws that would now bar them from taking office - 21st September
 * The spirit of John Brown stirs in Kansas - The outcome of a Midwest senate race may reinvigorate US populism – or leave Obama a-mouldering in the White House - 14th September
 * They talk the talk, but do our leaders have the stomach to face up to the Russians? - Nato has a commitment to defend the Baltic states, unlike Ukraine. But those in charge seem less than committed - 7th September
 * It’s caught in a trap and now Italy can’t just muddle through - Global Outlook: Sadly, the same cannot be said of the eurozone, and least of all of Italy, the true sick man of the 18-country bloc - 25th August
 * The issue Obama must tackle is white control in black areas - The violence in Ferguson is small beer compared to the 1965 conflagration in Watts - 20th August
 * Is President Obama just swinging out his reign? - Second presidential terms are rarely productive, but there may be a way to put an end to this wasteful lame-duckery - 17th August
 * Bill de Blasio: The man who dared to go on holiday - New York's mayor has taken a vacation - in a nation that has still to enforce paid leave, it caused quite a stir - 27th July
 * Rand Paul is a Republican with an eye on the world - The junior senator for Kentucky is laying out his presidential stall by taking on his party's disastrous record on foreign policy - 20th July
 * Refugee children from Central America let down by Washington's high ideals - Democrats and Republicans refuse to set aside their differences to cope with the influx of desperate people from some of the most dangerous countries in the world - 13th July
 * Don't underestimate the power of the US dollar - If its military and diplomatic clout is waning in parts of the world, there's one area where it's still in charge: money - 6th July
 * Two presidents. Two styles. One Iraq - The war that George W Bush plunged the United States into has cast a permanent shadow over his successor - 22nd June
 * Is Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's release a success story – or a scandal? - It's the American way to make politics out of everything, and this is no exception - 8th June
 * Maya Angelou was able to rise, but as for most African Americans, race equality is still only a dream - Reparations, according to an article by Ta-Nehisi Coates, are less a matter of dollars than of accepting 'our collective biography and its consequence - 1st June
 * Look who's talking – if the audience allows - 'Commencement' speeches, preferably made by the great and the good, are becoming the victims of political correctness - 25th May
 * Hillary Clinton rises above the dirty tricks - Karl Rove says the ex-secretary of state is suffering from a 'traumatic' brain injury. It will take more than that to stop her - 18th May
 * Lost? The Tea Party has already won, and its influence will be felt for years to come - It may seem to be in decline, but the Republicans' wacky wing has achieved its main aim of pushing the party to the right - 11th May
 * The boomtown that is Washington DC goes back to the future - The capital's streetcars – last seen in Kennedy's reign – are back, just as a much-loved video store falls victim to technology - 4th May
 * Clayton Lockett: If massacres don’t change gun laws, then this won’t change the death penalty - Lockett’s lawyer decribed his ordeal as ‘torture’. The incompetence is breathtaking - 1st May
 * The French economist forcing America to wake up to the end of The Dream - Thomas Piketty's tome which skewers the idea that anyone who works hard can make it in the US seems to have hit a nerve - 27th April
 * US consultants: From swingometers to social media - UK politicians have long been in thrall to imported US consultants, but will it work for the 2015 general election? - 20th April
 * Donald Rumsfeld, the ultimate known unknown of American politics - A documentary just out in the US shows the hard-nosed former defence secretary unapologetic over the Iraq debacle - 13th April
 * Obamacare health reform rises from the ashes - The President's unpopular healthcare policy is finally finding favour – much to the hysteria of the Republicans - 6th April
 * Joe McGinniss, a master of reportage, whatever the cost - For the American journalist and author, writing a book required total immersion in the subject – even if that meant becoming part of the story himself - 16th March
 * Adolf Hitler and his part in the downfall of political insults - Americans are very unimaginative at being rude about people. As with Hillary Clinton last week, it always comes back to the Nazis - 9th March
 * There are signs the Tea Party may be over  - Five years of arch-conservative revolution has left the party exhausted by infighting - 2nd March
 * The last breaths of America's machinery of death - Few states still have capital punishment, and even those that do are finding it difficult to find the drugs needed for lethal injections - 23rd February
 * Capitol Hill longs for drama in a crisis - Washington's deadlocked political class can only envy the ruthlessly effective machinations of Kevin Spacey in 'House of Cards' - 16th February
 * John Kerry's final run at a place in history - While the US's recent ambassadorial appointees have been an embarrassment, its current Secretary of State is one of its most ambitious - 9th February
 * All aboard the Chattanooga to Pyongyang: VW car-workers' in Tennessee could change the course of unions in America - If UAW sets up shop it will hand the country's enfeebled union movement its most significant victory in years and mark a new departure for US industrial relations. But some predict it will hit the buffers - 2nd February
 * Virginia sure ain't what it used to be - Former governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen face long jail terms if found guilty of corruption. So much for the home of probity - 26th January
 * The deerhunter returns to Washington - The rose gardens and parks of the US capital are under attack and only lethal force can save them from the doe-eyed assailants - 19th January
 * Chris Christie's story had better add up - The political fate of the US presidential hopeful rests less on how much ridicule he attracts than on whether he can see off the lawyers - 12th January
 * Steve McQueen’s acclaimed film 12 Years A Slave is brutal in its honesty. But is it too much for American audiences? - The paucity of slavery movies is especially striking when compared with the hundreds made about the Holocaust - 10th January
 * All eyes are on New York's new Mayor - The city is being led by a liberal for the first time in a generation, and the Democrats – especially Hillary Clinton - will be watching closely - 5th January



Articles: 2013

 * Why Wasps are an endangered species in the US - Once the elite, tracing their lineage to the Pilgrim Fathers – America's white Anglo-Saxon Protestants' grip on power is weaker than ever - 29th December
 * Barack Obama puts his 'annus horribilis' on hold - Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA have wounded the President almost as much as the disastrous roll-out of his healthcare reform - 22nd December
 * At last, the face of power is female - First, General Motors, next, the Federal Reserve. The glass ceiling in the US is not broken, but some big cracks are beginning to appear - 15th December
 * Turning up the voice of America - The warm crackle and hiss of AM radio lives on in the US, and is about to get a boost that could put it back at the heart of communities - 8th December
 * Pardon people, not turkeys, Mr President - Why is Obama so reluctant to reprieve the many Americans trapped in excessive life-without-parole sentences? A little mercy would be a true cause for giving thanks - 1st December
 * Barack Obama gets his judges. But at what cost? - Incensed by filibusters against the President’s nominees, the Democrats passed a law banning the practice – a move they may live to regret - 24th November
 * For Americans, JFK will never be case closed - Most in the US believe John F Kennedy's killer did not act alone. But 50 years on, witnesses are dying, memories weakening, and the definitive truth is as elusive as ever - 17th November
 * As somebody else once said... Kentucky senator Rand Paul exposed for plagiarism - He has been nailed for using in a book of his a passage taken from Forbes magazine – but only in America could it threaten his promising career - 10th November
 * The curse of the second term hovers over hapless President Obama - Few US presidents have avoided failure or downright ignominy after re-election - 3rd November
 * We're one 'Oops' away from Armageddon - The greatest threat to the US from atomic weapons is accidental detonation. And, worryingly, it has nearly happened - 27th October
 * The usual rule is that the party that wins the White House loses in Virginia... Not this time - The Republican candidate in next month's gubernatorial election has been scuppered by his popularity with the Tea Party - 20th October
 * Truth is the first casualty of 'transparency' - Despite President Obama's promises of openness, leakers are pursued as never before and it's harder for journalists to do their job - 13th October
 * Obamacare begins – and the right is terrified that it will work - While all the talk is of shutdown, schemes for those without health cover open for business - 6th October
 * The US's power failure: 800,000 face weeks of unpaid lay-offs as politicians in the world’s most advanced democracy force partial shutdown of government over Obamacare - Has the United States been more divided in living memory? - 2nd October
 * Beyond doubt, these next few days will be the most crucial of the Obama presidency - Horrific video of Islamist rebels murdering Syrian army soldiers prompts further questions of just where the US stands - 8th September
 * We all thought Libya had moved on – it has, but into lawlessness and ruin - Libya has plunged unnoticed into its worst political and economic crisis since the defeat of Gaddafi - 4th September
 * 'Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job': from satire to fact - Out of America: 'The Onion' published a spoof headline back in 2008 which surely foresaw this weekend - 1st September
 * Tough justice isn't working in the Land of the Free - The US locks up more of its citizens than any other country, but that may be about to change - 18th August
 * On the DC gravy train, best go club class - A new book shows that Washington's booming – but only for a lobbying, lawyering elite that persists, whoever's in power - 11th August
 * What if Edward Snowden had stayed to fight his corner? - The CIA whistleblower struck a blow for us all, but his 1970s predecessor showed how to win - 4th August
 * Willie Reed reminds us change has come - The Trayvon Martin story is horrifying. But the fate of a witness to an earlier outrage helps put it in the proper context - 28th July
 * Trouble in store: Why Walmart has failed to woo Washington - The world’s biggest retailer has been thwarted in plans to open in the capital of capitalism. But the fight isn’t over - 21st July
 * Race is a constant in US life – as elsewhere - The death of Trayvon Martin has proved that race is still a factor in national life – but name one country on earth which has a significant racial minority where it is not - 16th July
 * Democracy is... saying goodbye without the gunfire - Richard Nixon managed it, and his party soon returned to power. The lesson from the Cairo coup last week could not have been more different - 7th July
 * Climate change fanned the flames of the Arizona wildfire - As summers get hotter we will see more blazes like the one that killed 19 firefighters last week - 7th July
 * Edward Snowden is a modern American hero - This was a precious public service. Governments do have a right to secrecy, but not an unfettered one - 11th June
 * The one million people working in US security - The horrors of 9/11 and fear of a reprise have led to the 'mining' of phone records and emails - 9th June
 * A serious case of Last War Syndrome - Memories of Iraq drive the West's response to events in Syria - 2nd June
 * Lead us not into Penn Station – but deliver us from poor architecture - There are signs of life in the country's grand old terminal buildings – even if some are no more than museum pieces - 2nd June
 * A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms - The destructive power of tornadoes will be as nothing once the Great Plains' vast underground water reserve dries up - 26th May
 * B-list scandals begin to take the shine off Barack Obama's halo - Republicans are relishing the discomfort of a president who rarely puts a foot wrong - 19th May
 * F Scott Fitzgerald's novels are read by millions, but he was buried in near anonymity - The last resting place of the 'Great Gatsby' author is a long way from the Jazz Age glamour of his novel, now back on screen - 12th May
 * If American communities are supposed to look after their own, Cleveland, Ohio has clearly failed - This is the land that invented 'Neighbourhood Watch', but a terrible crime has given the lie to the cosy, Rockwellian notion of the American suburbs - 10th May
 * Nun, 82, exposes the weakness at the heart of 'Atomic City' - Security breach turns spotlight on secret plant in Tennessee where US stores uranium for bombs - 5th May
 * Is the US ready for a third president called Bush? - 'Dubya' may have had his last spotlight moment. Now, it could be his younger brother's turn - 28th April
 * Is the right winning the US culture wars? Yes, no and maybe - On the 'hot-button' issues of gun control, abortion and gay marriage, the country is moving in several directions at once - 21st April
 * Thatcher was both trailblazer and sounding board - Convince the Iron Lady, the Kremlin’s reasoning went, and they could convince anyone - 9th April
 * Keep military might off the sports pitch - You can't attend a match without a patriotic preamble – complete with soldiers and flags – that lasts nearly as long as the game - 7th April
 * Boston bids farewell to its greatest mayor - Tom Menino bows out after 20 years of serving the city, during which he turned around its fortunes in typically unassuming style - 30th March
 * Brinkmanship in Pyongyang baffles and alarms the US - Washington DC may not exactly be quaking in dread this early spring weekend at the prospect of a missile attack on the city, as threatened by North Korea. But the rarely precedented bluster and bellicosity from Pyongyang baffle and alarm the US officials and experts who have grappled with the country's erratic behaviour for decades - 30th March
 * North Korea's latest nuclear threat is a failed attempt to wring some concessions from West - The young Kim Jong-un remains an unknown quantity - 29th March
 * Scary and out of touch – how the Republicans see themselves - The GOP is finally acknowledging that it has to detoxify if it's to have any hope of regaining the White House - 24th March
 * On a wing and without a prayer – the decline of the monarch butterfly - More GM crops mean more herbicides – which destroy the food the insects need for their epic migration - 17th March
 * It took a while, but Barack Obama's honeymoon is definitely over - Noses among the Washington press corps are out of joint. There will be a price to pay - 10th March
 * Chavez is gone, but have we seen the last Chavista? - The Venezuelan Presidents influence in the Americas during his life time is indisputable, but to what extend will it live on after his death? - 7th March
 * Rise and fall of black America's first fighter pilot - Honoured by the French as a war hero, Eugene Jacques Bullard ended his days as a lift operator - 3rd March
 * The ghost of segregation returns to haunt the ballot box - Nearly 50 years after the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court may be about to eviscerate it - 24th February
 * Washington Redskins – time for a name change? - US sports teams are dropping Native Indian-inspired names that are viewed as racist - 17th February
 * A born survivor – it's a shame she could never be president - But Obama's UK-born nominee for the Interior Department has enough on her plate as it is - 10th February
 * So, just how powerful is the Israel lobby in the US? - Perhaps no more than a dozen out of more than 400 Representatives are pro-Palestinian - 3rd February
 * America is a nation still divided by a woman's right to choose - Forty years after Roe vs Wade made abortion legal, the issue is more contentious than ever - 27th January
 * Liberated and liberal Obama sets second-term agenda - This was the real Barack Obama: not the calculating party politician with an eye on the next election, not a president sometimes accused of aloofness, even passivity – but a national leader boldly setting out what he wants to do, and only too aware he has precious little time to achieve it - 21st January
 * Barack Obama's inauguration: No more Mr Nice Guy! - As the President is sworn in again, he aims to avoid the curse of the second term - 20th January
 * Forgive us, Oprah, for we have sinned - She is the mother confessor of the United States, the woman to whom the nation's miscreants turn and tell - 13th January
 * US glass ceiling shows political cracks - Women have been making inroads into positions of power on Capitol Hill, and their fortunes are at an all-time high - 6th January
 * Thisdysfunctional system has just kicked the can down the road - Comment: President Obama has too often seemed disdainful not only of the recalcitrant House, but of the entire legislative process - 2nd January



Articles: 2012

 * The Republicans need a dose of Lincoln's human factor - The party's swing even further to the right has prevented compromise in American politics - 30th December
 * Big Yellow Taxi? Not in Washington DC - The city's notoriously laissez-faire taxi industry faces regulation of fares and routes at last. But how should they be painted? - 23rd December
 * America: Too many guns, too little will to change - Newtown, Connecticut, joins a rollcall of towns whose names become synonymous with violent death. The President has a fight on his hands - 16th December
 * Everyone's a winner on the level playing fields of sport - Baseball and hockey don't follow the stereotype of rampant US capitalism - 2nd December
 * Why are the Republicans out to get Susan Rice? - They're determined to block Obama's favoured successor to Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State - 25th November
 * Hollywood director lays into Uncle Sam - Oliver Stone's new 10-part TV series is blasting apart the sacred myth of American exceptionalism. It's not perfect, but it's a start - 18th November
 * A shot at glory: President Obama's second chance - He can use the next four years to tackle some of the US's worst problems – if only the Republicans will let him - 11th November
 * The Republican Party: The death of America’s angry white man - If the GOP wants to win next time, its leaders need to wrest power from the Tea Party fringe and embrace the changes in the US - 11th November
 * US election 2012: The tenacity of hope - Why America will never look the same again - 8th November
 * America decides: With just 48 hours to go, the ground war begins - This campaign has been long, uninspiring and negative, but it is still anyone's to win - 4th November
 * The weird maths that add up to the White House - Out of America: The result is too close to call, and could even be a tie that will make for edge-of-the-seat election viewing - 27th October
 * Mitt Romney's Gulf gaffe just a ripple in this cliffhanger of a contest - For all the rhetoric and oozing contempt, there's little to choose between them on substance - 24th October
 * Poverty: The election issue that dare not speak its name - Neither Obama nor Romney has much to say on the 46 million who live below the breadline - 21st October
 * The Mason-Dixon line is showing its age - Cultural and – more recently – political changes have shifted the traditional border between North and South - 14th October
 * Biden-Ryan could be more than a sideshow - Normally, vice-presidential debates hardly matter. On 6 November, Americans choose a president, not a vice-president - 10th October
 * Spot the clues in the battle of the veeps - Vice-presidential debates have a chequered history, but sometimes they can be a springboard to the top job - 7th October
 * Killers who stalk the great American highways - The system of interstates, built from the 1950s, has always attracted myths – and lone assassins - 30th September
 * Murphy's Law has put its curse on Romney - It's tough these days being Mitt Romney. This wasn't a bad week for him – nowhere near as bad as the one before, which kicked off with the now infamous "47 per cent of Americans feel themselves victims" - 29th September
 * Can Barack Obama win again? Yes he can! - Out of America special: In the linchpin state of Virginia, Democrats once more believe – and not just because of Romney - 23rd September
 * Is Romney the most inept candidate ever? - The ’victims’ gaffe is a self-inflicted distraction Romney can ill afford a bare 48 days before election day. Is there any way back for the Republican campaign? - 19th September
 * Remembering America's deadliest day - It's peaceful now, but 150 years ago Antietam was the scene of carnage on a scale not seen by the US before – or since - 16th September
 * Conventions over, now the serious business begins - Presidential campaigns will be aimed at a tiny number of key voters in just 10 swing states - 9th September
 * Even now, Democrats are eyeing 2016 - Obama is standing for the last time, so delegates at this week's convention in North Carolina will be looking for his successor - 2nd September
 * Republicans talk the talk... - ... but their foreign policy would be no different - 31st August
 * Time for Romney to show if he's got what it takes - This week's Republican convention will force its self‑effacing candidate to bare at least part of his soul - 26th August
 * The return of Philip Marlowe PI - The guardians of Raymond Chandler's estate have authorised a Booker winner to bring the author's hero back to life - 19th August
 * Putin faces the age-old dilemma of the tyrant - Weakness might embolden his opponents. Cracking down too hard will damage the legitimacy of his rule - 17th August
 * Towry Law plans to go public this year - Romney's choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate in the US elections is exciting, but its consequences are unpredictable - 12th August
 * 50 years on, we're still in love with Marilyn - She created the modern idea of celebrity, and now her stock is on the rise again - 5th August
 * A foreign trip from hell – but Mitt's still well set for his assault on the White House - World Focus: The man who would be president and a week of faux pas - 1st August
 * Today, Jerusalem. Tomorrow, Washington? - A visit to Israel has become de rigueur for presidential hopefuls. For Mitt Romney, it's also a chance to see an old friend - 22nd July
 * Voter ID – the Republicans' secret weapon - New laws requiring photo identification at the polling booth will deter some Democrat voters, and could prove decisive - 15th July
 * Small-town USA lives on – if only in our imagination - 'The Andy Griffith Show' idealised simple rural values in a country resolutely urban - 8th July
 * You have to feel sorry for the hostage in the White House - Both at home and abroad, Barack Obama is finding that his fate is in the hands of others - 1st July
 * Yankees fail to recall the night the British really were coming - The 200th anniversary of the war that decided the future of a continent passes unremarked - 24th June
 * In 2012, Nixon would probably have got away with it - Today is the 40th anniversary of Watergate. How would the US deal with the scandal now? - 17th June
 * The old enemies are in conflict again – and Syria is the battleground - It’s now clear that the Gorbachev-Yeltsin era was an aberration in Russian history - 16th June
 * Wars, disasters, pestilence – and zombies. Is the end of the world nigh? - A slew of gruesome murders, depressing world affairs and weird weather – it's no wonder the mood is sombre
 * The rust belt punishes a tactical blunder... and Barack Obama could be the real loser - The recall was meant to be a show of strength for the unions. The outcome was exactly the opposite - 7th June
 * Bad news on jobs is good news for Romney - A shrinking jobs market hands the Republican candidate a crucial weapon against Obama - 3rd June
 * Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky - The growing pressure on space could force Washington to end its ban on tower blocks - 27th May
 * Is this the bursting of the education bubble? - As students prepare to graduate saddled with record levels of debt, the parallels with the sub-prime mortgage crisis are hard to ignore - 20th May
 * Gay rights sharpen the presidential divide - As Obama backs same-sex marriage, allegations about Romney's schooldays will do little to win over moderate voters - 13th May
 * Who'd have thought it? Democrats are the new he-men - Obama's common-sense hawkishness confounds received wisdom and may win him re-election - 6th May
 * The voices of America who ruled the world - A new play recalls the huge political influence writers once had - 29th April
 * Pulitzers deliver slap in the face for the Great American Novel - The judges have decided not to make an award for the best work of fiction – literary folk are not happy - 22nd April
 * Edwards trial reeks of partisan, personal bias - What the former golden boy did was despicable, but prosecuting him for campaign finance violations is nothing but Republican revenge - 15th April
 * The strange virtue of Barack Obama - A lack of juicy stories from the White House has left Americans to get their fill of sleaze via a fictionalised TV version - 8th April
 * Obamacare is in the hands of the unelected - The Supreme Court has the power to trump Congress and consign to history the US's boldest attempt at universal healthcare - 1st April
 * The murderous demon of race still stalks this land - The killing of Trayvon Martin has again ruthlessly exposed the faultlines that underlie Obama-era America - 25th March
 * Big money takes aim at the heart of Washington - Party political bankrollers are mounting a takeover of think tanks. If they succeed, US politics will become more partisan than ever - 18th March
 * Chalk and cheese – but they're getting friendlier - Obama has made few obvious close friends among foreign leader - 13th March
 * The nightmare on Romney Street is far from over - The torturous campaign for the Republican nomination is leaving the frontrunner battered - 11th March
 * Magic Johnson still smiles in the face of HIV - A TV documentary next weekend and a Broadway show mark the inspirational life of the basketball legend, who retired in 1991 - 4th March
 * The world's most charismatic couple - Excitement over a new documentary series about Bill and Hillary reveals how Americans are still captivated by the Clintons - 19th February
 * The Romney dog-food brand still isn't selling - The Republican frontrunner can't seem to win over the party faithful - 12th February
 * Time to tell the story of Mitt the Mormon - One of the oddest aspects of the Republican race is how little mention there is of the favourite's faith - 15th January
 * Europe-bashing by the Republicans is nothing new – just ask George W Bush - If Mitt Romney does become President, the first thing he might have to do is mend fences with Europe - 12th January
 * Which of these Republicans can win over the nation? - Of Romney's rivals, only Ron Paul has a genuine national organisation, built up in previous runs - 4th January



Articles: 2011

 * Home on the range, where the spy drones fly - Use of aerial surveillance gadget in North Dakota police case could be a sign of things to come - 18th December
 * Supreme Court justices shy away from the cameras - When they debate Obama's healthcare reforms, they'd prefer to do it away from the glare of TV - 11th December
 * All the candidate's women – rules for surviving a scandal - Out of America: Cain may be a goner, but sexual indiscretions do not always lead to political death - 4th December
 * The mysterious case of the New Jersey Five - Out of America: After acquittal of prime suspect, fate of teenage boys who vanished in 1978 is as unclear as ever - 27th November
 * No one's giving thanks for this debate marathon - Out of America: It's the season of turkey, cranberry sauce – and the Republicans' endless search for a 2012 candidate - 21st November
 * Cover-up at Penn State exposes its skewed values - Out of America: University cared more about its football team than saving children from sexual abuse by coach - 13th November
 * Is the American Dream at an end? - The US goes to the presidential polls a year from today, but there is little faith in the political system as recession bites - 6th November
 * Washington's long road to racial harmony on the football pitch - The Redskins team is the one thing that unites a divided capital. But the side's history is a very chequered one - 30th October
 * There's trouble in the pipeline for Obama - A plan to import tar-sand oil from Canada will bring jobs and energy security, but environmentalists say the president must block it - 23rd October
 * Before Stonewall, there was Frank Kameny - Out of America: The American gay rights pioneer, who died last week, had been fighting against homophobic laws for more than half a century - 16th October
 * Capitalism's heart occupied – where will it all lead? - Anti-corporate demonstrations in New York have struck a chord. Could they be the Democrat version of the Tea Party? - 9th October
 * Hard line is dictated by pro-Israel bias of Congress dictates hard line - On Capitol Hill positions on the Middle East are often more rigid than even those of the Netanyahu government - 5th October
 * This is one 2012 hopeful who's had his chips - Republicans are begging Chris Christie to take on Obama, but he brings with him a weighty problem - 2nd October
 * US takes a flight back to a simpler, happier time - Out of America: A new TV drama chimes with the nation's need to escape its troubles - 25th September
 * Why Obama is running into trouble with the Jewish lobby - The Democrats' election defeat in a normally supportive suburb of New York is worrying the White House - 18th September
 * American Football: Parties, payments and Prostitutes: lurid scandal of US college football - University of Miami debacle has exposed the sham of amateurism in sport that generates billions - 9th September
 * The day America's decline began - The US enjoyed an outpouring of global sympathy after 9/11. Within a couple of years that sympathy was squandered - 7th September
 * Superheroes get a makeover – butcan it save them? - Battered by computer games, the internet and the slump, US comic books are seeking a new generation of readers - 4th September
 * He had a dream – and now it's set in stone - The figure of Martin Luther King stands 30ft high, in a monumental tribute to his stirring reconciliation speech made 48 years ago today - 28th August
 * Why Obama's seaside break is making waves - With the economy teetering on the brink of a fresh recession, many in the US seem to begrudge the President his summer holiday - 21st August
 * Have Republicans taken leave of their senses? - On the campaign trail, the zealotry is even greater - 17th August
 * Britain's most wanted man: Bill Bratton’s crime-fighting credentials - He's credited as the police chief who cleaned up NYC and his policies are being championed by David Cameron. But could Bill Bratton head up the Met? Yes - in theory - 16th August
 * Republican with God on his ticket - Are you of the view that the last thing the US wants is another God-fearing governor of Texas running for president? - 17th July
 * Grover Norquist: The man who is holding the US to ransom - Crucial talks to find $4trn of savings could fail because of the influence of one anti-tax zealot - 10th July
 * Atlantis's mission marks end of a magnificent era - The final space shuttle flight on Friday will be a turning point - 3rd July
 * Reagan: A president's second act - A new statue of Ronald Reagan in London confirms the reverence with which this once-mocked leader is held. And an heir is expected from the next generation of Republican candidates - 27th June
 * Murder mystery – why have US cities become safer? - 26th June
 * New rivals threaten Obama's second term - Michele Bachmann is the rising star for the Republicans as economic woes and troubles abroad add spice to next year's campaign - 19th June
 * Why the US is a nation of daddy's boys - From George Bush and Frank Sinatra to George Foreman and JFK – American fathers love to name their sons after themselves - 12th June
 * DC was never going to get the magic of pinball - For fans of flashing lights and flippers, it's a sad day as an odd tourist attraction closes its doors - 5th June
 * Little free time in the land of the free - US workers get far less time off than their European counterparts. But they don't seem at all bothered about it - 29th May
 * Why the US applauds Israeli defiance - Accounts vary on whether Netanyahu received 28 or 29 ovations during his address to Congress on Tuesday - 26th May
 * The right seems reluctant to run against Obama - Six months ago, the Republicans triumphed in the midterms, but few have come forward for 2012 - 22nd May
 * The mother who blazed a trail for Obama's career - Stanley Ann Dunham was, as the title of a new biography attests, a very singular woman - 15th May
 * Violent, extreme and contrary (the weather, that is) - The larger-than-life meteorology of the US – its twisters, floods, and droughts – mirrors the nation - 8th May
 * However grisly, the American public will demand the pictures - "That's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies." With those words, Barack Obama yesterday tried to end the debate that followed the greatest national security feat of his presidency: namely, whether to release the grisly photos of the death of Osama bin Laden - 5th May
 * America must end its 9/11 mindset - The wars into which Bin Laden drew the US became terrorism's recruiting tool - 3rd May
 * A law born in USA a very long time ago - The 'birther' row shows how out of date the constitution has become - 1st May
 * The Regal Republic: Why are Americans obsessed with the Royal family? - Americans' obsession with the Royal family expresses a longing for a leadership wreathed in pomp and circumstance, says Rupert Cornwell. Do they wish they hadn't cast off the monarchy? - 25th April
 * Cast your vote for Mug Shot of the Day - A rogues' gallery website is the latest innovation in a US tradition that dates back to Wild West's 'Wanted' posters - 24th April
 * The news gets better, but not for Obama - Barack Obama, the conventional wisdom runs, is cruising to a second term - 23rd April
 * If a dispute is not settled, entire seasons can be lost - Major League Baseball's takeover of the Los Angeles Dodgers is but further proof of the tight, centralised control exerted by the American sports leagues – operating, in some respects almost literally, as laws unto themselves - 22nd April
 * We live in Washington DC – but it might as well be Eritrea - For the foreseeable future, the humiliations will continue - 17th April
 * Space: The day the Earth stood still - Feature: Exactly 50 years ago, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. His journey to the heavens was a pinnacle of human achievement – and, the defining triumph of the Soviet Union - 12th April
 * Obama must plan for life without his loyal Republican - The retirement of Bob Gates is imminent - 10th April
 * History repeats itself in clash with Republicans - A game of political and financial chicken, played out in a mixture of fraught backstage negotiations and shameless public posturing that threatens to bring the machinery of federal government in the US to a halt. Sound familiar? - 9th April
 * Question the Kennedy legend at your peril - Out of America: The row over a TV biopic shows that the US unofficial 'royal family' can still pack a punch - 3rd April
 * Cold War rules still apply in tricky game of switching sides - Benedict Arnold, Rudolf Hess. Now Moussa Koussa joins them - 1st April
 * Americans are confused about this – none more so than their President - Arm the rebels? Foment a palace coup or a tribal revolt to overthrow Gaddafi? Step up the bombing? Or settle for a stalemate that seals a de facto partition of the country? - 31st March
 * US college sport is big business - University games are meant to be strictly amateur – but there are millions of dollars at stake - 27th March
 * Is this the biggest art heist in history? - Out of America: The fate of a $25bn hoard of modern masterpieces paints an ugly picture of Philadelphia's art elite - 20th March
 * Caution is Obama's only option. But it's working - The United States appears to have been taking a back seat in coping with the Libyan crisis, leaving its European allies and the Arab world to make the running. And that is exactly how Washington wants it - 19th March
 * These suspicious allies must worktogether, whether they like it or not - The diplomatic relationship between Pakistan and the US – testy and fraught with mutual suspicion – bears out as few others the dictum of Lord Palmerston's that countries have no permanent friends or allies, only permanent interests - 17th March
 * A shouting shop needs the quiet voices of truth - Out of America: Conservative blowhards have it in for the nation's public broadcasters - 13th March
 * Playing the 'what if' game is addictive - Is it as futile to rewrite history as it is to rewrite a football match after the final whistle blows? - 12th March
 * Teachers, the new scapegoats of the right - As school standards fall, the classroom has become the latest front in the war over public spending cuts - 6th March
 * Steel Town' shows US the art of survival - Out of America: Pittsburgh, heart of the rustbelt, reinvented itself after industrial collapse in the 1980s. Its rebirth offers hope to other smitten cities - 27th February
 * Don't expect the UN to hurry its response - Analysis: Despite complaints to the contrary, the United Nations is addressing the increasingly bloody crisis in Libya, but in its own measured way - 26th February
 * Tony Soprano' has the Republicans in his ample palm - Out of America: The blunt, fat, in-your-face governor of New Jersey could be the party's best bet to take on Barack Obama in 2012. But he swears he won't run - 20th February
 * Shipwrecks, survival – and cannibalism - Historic find has links to a grisly saga that inspired 'Moby-Dick - 12th February
 * Egyptian drama that has proved beyond America's control - A clearly disappointed Obama administration was silent last night after President Hosni Mubarak confounded every expectation by refusing to step down - 11th February
 * An 18th-century battle for modern health care - In America, that most litigious of nations, political quarrels never die - 6th February
 * Why the cult of Reagan still rules in Washington - In his centenary year, the late President is more influential than ever – even among Democrats - 5th February
 * Long, hard road to black history museum - It's been a long time coming, almost a century in fact - 30th January
 * The US may soon be regretting its Middle East 'freedom agenda' - The deepening turmoil in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East is an especially acute example of an age-old dilemma for the US: how to foster desperately needed social and political change without unwittingly opening the gates of power to hostile regimes in a strategically vital region - 29th January
 * More chastened Clinton than sunny Reagan, but a second term beckons - Barack Obama's State of the Union address, with its plea for bipartisanship and sober analysis of the problems facing the country, staked out the terrain for his 2012 bid for re-election bid, which – right now at least – he looks odds-on to secure - 27th January
 * Twitter dialect says you are what you tweet - Got 'sumthin' or 'suttin' to get off your chest? Go ahead - 23rd January
 * A pitch-perfect response restores Obama's stature - The aftermath of Tucson showed the President at his best - 16th January
 * The Senate: land where time stands still - Democratic leader Harry Reid is using the age-old filibuster to strike a deal with the Republicans - 9th January
 * An all-American tale of sin and redemption - It looked like star quarterback Michael Dwayne Vick had lost everything, but then he was offered a second chance... - 2nd January



Articles: 2010

 * march of American conservatism'' - New data shows a big shift of population towards Republican strongholds - 27th December
 * Christmas for the President (believe it or not)'' - After the mid-term rout, Obama looked down and out – but a run of successes has changed the game - 26th December
 * Year in Review: Obama's shellacking'' - Isolated by the audacity of voters - 24th December
 * 150 years, the Civil War still divides the United States'' - As the country prepares to commemorate the great schism, the echoes of the bloody conflict still reverberate through its politics and culture - 19th December
 * mystery of Jonathan Pollard's missing pardon'' - An American who spied for Israel has languished in jail for 23 years – and US authorities are loath to reveal why they want him to stay there - 12th December
 * fight against the power of money'' - Tax cuts for billionaires, and bankers with more clout than ever – nothing has changed - 5th December
 * 9/11, it was always going to be impossible to keep secrets'' - The massive leak of US diplomatic cables by the Wikileaks organisation is in part an unintended consequence of a decision to step up data-sharing between government agencies to prevent a repeat of the September 2001 terrorist attacks - 30th November
 * race to challenge Obama begins'' - Two years to go, but this Thanksgiving weekend is when politicians start thinking of the White House - 28th November
 * last, desperate throw of the dice for Illinois'' - All along the Mississippi, riverboat casinos are helping deficit-hit states to balance the books - 21st November
 * tug-of-warover US's greatest athlete'' - The body of 1912 Olympian Jim Thorpe may be removed from the town that bears his name - 14th November
 * for the US to level with Russia'' - The US lame-duck Congress on Monday reassembles for its final session - 11th November
 * has got to say: I got it wrong'' - A bit of humility wouldn't go amiss if he wants to avoid another 'shellacking' in two years' time - 7th November
 * instability makes for political volatility'' - It was supposed to be a watershed election, like those of 1932, 1968 and 1980, that would set America's course for a generation or more. Two years later, however, Barack Obama's sweeping victory in 2008 looks like one more blip on a political TV screen permanently obscured with static - 3rd November
 * news blocks the middle of the road'' - The mid-term campaign, mercifully, is almost over, and the outcome can safely be declared - 31st October
 * and money...'' - ... why Sarah Palin won't run for the White House in 2012 - 24th October
 * presidential mishaps go, this one takes 'the biscuit''' - It has been dubbed "most dangerous handbag in the world" (and not because it weighs in at 45lb) - 22nd October
 * has a $2.2 trillion repair bill'' - Recession and a shift to the right have put big projects in jeopardy - 17th October
 * 9 out of 10 Americans love statistics'' - I write these words from Barnes-Jewish hospital in St Louis, Missouri, where my wife has just undergone back surgery - 10th October
 * bright new dawn to dreary afternoon'' - Obama has shown himself to be a cautious realist – not the inspiring leader his party wants as mid-terms loom - 3rd October
 * man who knows nearly everything'' - Another autumn, a different president and a different war – but a familiar ritual was playing out in Washington - 26th September
 * Vatican's appeal as an offshore haven is still evident'' - "Vatican Bank under investigation." Those four words instantly summon up one of the 20th century's most lurid financial mysteries - 22nd September
 * America gone mad?'' - Extreme right-wingers are winning as the country goes into one of its periodic fits of political insanit - 19th September
 * politics now an absurdity'' - Rise of partisanship has turned every legislative debate into trench warfare - 18th September
 * civil war spells only bad news for the US in the long term'' - The US faces huge challenges best settled by compromise and bipartisanship. These are anathema to the Tea Party - 16th September
 * mayor that Washington loves to hate'' - Out of America: Adrian Fenty delivered the goods, but he's likely to be ousted this week thanks to the vagaries of politics in the US capital city - 12th September
 * for a casino spark a new battle at Gettysburg'' - In 1863, the town witnessed the climactic contest of the Civil War – now a very 21st-century conflict is raging - 5th September
 * will not win the Republicans power'' - US voters are in mutinous mood, but by fanning the flames now, the right risks missing the prize - 29th August
 * you, or have you been, a migrant?'' - If you believe the hysteria, foreign women are queuing up to give birth to automatic US citizens - 15th August
 * only America understood Judt'' - I never met Tony Judt but I will miss him, badly - 12th August
 * car industry back from the brink'' - One of the success stories of the Obama administration has been the resurrection of the 'Big Three' - 8th August
 * wants its own David Cameron'' - Scarcely a day passes, it seems, without a foreign policy clanger from our PM - 7th August
 * current nuclear threat to Japan is from Pyongyang'' - Given president Obama's vision of a world one day rid of nuclear weapons, the visit by a US ambassador to Hiroshima to attend today's annual anniversary ceremony marking the use of the atomic bomb against the city in 1945 makes perfect sense. But it is rekindling a debate that rages as strongly as ever in America, 65 years on. Was the use of the bomb justified? - 6th August
 * the Clintons, not the Bushes, are the new royal family'' - A wedding yesterday sealed the unofficial succession to the Kennedys - 1st August
 * stays cool - is global warming the price?'' - Air conditioning has done the most to make America what it is today - 25th July
 * America need so many spooks?'' - I left for a holiday with the headlines full of one spy scandal. I returned this week to be greeted by another - 22nd July
 * must not be blinded by might of US'' - The official demythologising of the 'special relationship' should begin in earnest as Cameron makes his first visit to America as PM - 21st July
 * years after Elian, US softens towards Cuba'' - The case shone a spotlight on Washington's embargo. At last, things may be changing - 4th July
 * can't resist a man in uniform'' - Petraeus's posting to Afghanistan only strengthens the rumours about his political ambitions - 27th June
 * of sleaze still lingers in the Windy City'' - Out of America: Chicago has always played to different rules – and the latest political trial shows little has changed - 20th June
 * doomed life of a troubled killer who never had a chance'' - If ever a man was destined to be added to the list of the 1,217 people executed since capital punishment was restored in the US in 1976, it was surely Ronnie Lee Gardner - 19th June
 * Korean War'' - The battle for Korea, which began 60 years ago next week, is barely remembered in the US. Yet it created the template for conflict in the 21st century - 18th June
 * over drugs, guns and immigration'' - Killing of Mexican by a US guard shows the tensions between the two nations - 13th June
 * relationship on the rocks? It's not us, it's them'' - To judge by some comments in Britain, the US has all but declared war over the BP oil spill - 12th June
 * Drama, Obama' style of leadership is no match for this crisis'' - Emotional words, and the gratification they bring, are not Obama's preferred way, and however hard he tries, it shows - 9th June
 * disaster: 'Yes, we can' to 'No, we can't''' - The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has rocked the nation's self-confidence - 6th June
 * eyes turn to Obama as the oil flows'' - Why on earth does anyone want to be President? - 5th June
 * Harper Lee is likely to miss her own party'' - Out of America: 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is 50, its author reclusive - 30th May
 * Korea - the great unknown'' - The world's last Stalinist regime is on the brink of conflict once again. What is it that North Korea hopes to achieve by such posturing? We just can't know - 28th May
 * it comes to terrorism, Obama is following Bush's lead'' - The greater involvement of the US military in special operations has already led to complaints it could complicate relations with traditional allies in the Middle East, and perhaps deny captured American soldiers the protection of the Geneva conventions - 26th May
 * roll as voters play 'kick the incumbent''' - Politicians who've been secure for decades are feeling extremely vulnerable as mid-term primaries point them to the exit - 16th May
 * war that nobody wants'' - You don't have to be a fan of Dr Strangelove to recognise that wars can start by accident – that if the tinder is properly laid, a small spark can set off an uncontrollable blaze - 13th May
 * small nudge towards breaking the conservative grip on the judiciary'' - The safe expectation is that she will form part of the liberal wing, while the swing vote will continue to belong to Anthony Kennedy - 11th May
 * sale marks victory for internet and TV'' - Decline of a once mighty magazine is a sign that media landscape has changed - 9th May
 * lessons for America'' - Even more blatantly than in Britain, US politics does not reflect what the public wants. It detests the petty hyper-partisanship of Congress - 7th May
 * the American railroad dream back on track?'' - National Train Day: After decades of neglect, now is the time for the US to bring its investment in trains up to speed - 2nd May
 * President moves swiftly to avoid his Katrina moment'' - The full resources of the Pentagon are being thrown into the fray, and top federal officials have been sent to the scene - 1st May
 * happy to banish this reminder of its failed past'' - Noriega Profile - 28th April
 * habit Obama shares with Nixon'' - US presidents have always been avid readers, and what they keep on their bookshelves speaks volumes - 25th April
 * embarks on a voyage into the unknown'' - Out of America: Obama's new announcement concedes the US can no longer afford a grandiose space programme - 18th April
 * rare that a big summit produces results'' - Summit on nuclear security may just be the exception that proves the rule - 13th April
 * much for the special relationship'' - The disagreements and personal slights seem to have become more common - 12th April
 * Court will miss its impish inquisitor-in-chief'' - The retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens marks the end of an era - 11th April
 * political manoeuvre that allows President to take moral high ground'' - President Obama's new Nuclear Posture Review is above all a political statement, not a military one - 7th April
 * mention the Germans, Uncle Sam'' - German-Americans have had a huge impact on the US and it's time they were allowed to shout about it - 4th April
 * this week, we may all owe Obama an apology'' - Healthcare reform, standing up to Israel, and a nuclear treaty have transformed his presidency - 28th March
 * deal marks step forward for old foes'' - World Focus: America - 26th March
 * to Davy Crockett – and the wild frontier'' - Fess Parker died at the age of 85 last week, and with him died a part of me - 21st March
 * have I witnessed a vote so dramatic'' - If healthcare reform passes, Obama will have a win that transforms his presidency - 20th March
 * vast cost of drug promotion puts judgement in doubt'' - Links between the big drug companies and doctors have become increasingly controversial in the US, as the pharmaceutical industry showers physicians each year with billions of dollars in the shape of free samples, speaking fees and perks like all-paid conference trips, to help promote their products - 19th March
 * won't restrain Israel - he can't'' - His error has been not to think through the clout of America's pro-Israel lobby - 18th March
 * no sign that Obama will punish his ally'' - The fracas over Israel's announcement of 1,600 new homes in disputed East Jerusalem is undoubtedly serious. But it also recalls the old children's ditty of how "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" - 16th March
 * 'Most Wanted' list celebrates 60 years of notoriety'' - From the outset, there was no way the venture could fail - 14th March
 * we going to see Reagan on the $50 bill?'' - Liberals are aghast. Historians of the Civil War are beside themselves - 7th March
 * to the chiefs...'' - ... the real power in the White House - 28th February
 * is still liked but he isn't feared'' - Thirteen months into office, America is in as foul a mood as when Bush reached his nadir - 25th February
 * cuts and tax increases are a dangerous formula'' - Suicidal attack on tax office highlights growing anger of ordinary Americans - 21st February
 * trade likes to keep success a secret'' - When an intelligence agency makes headlines, it's because of a failure - 20th February
 * brings out best – and worst – in US'' - There's not much that American politics can't trivialise – even the worst blizzards for 110 years. - 14th February
 * most important woman in the history of modern medicine'' - She was a poor black tobacco worker, the descendant of slaves - 7th February
 * Obama – Hillary is doing a fine job'' - The President would dearly love to be as popular as his celebrated Secretary of State - 31st January
 * bad week for Obama...'' - ... but the worst is yet to come - 24th January
 * are disillusioned with how government works'' - On the face of it, few political turnarounds have been as astonishing - 21st January
 * gets ready to sit up and be counted'' - Much hinges on the outcome of the 2010 national census – from voting rights to government aid - 17th January
 * brewing as millions join the Tea Party protest'' - What is the most popular political grouping in America right now? - 10th January
 * catches up with symbol of Old West'' - Government measures to control Nevada's herds of feral horses have stirred growing protests - 3rd January
 * let on, but Obama's doing well'' - He’s on his way to the biggest public policy reforms since Lyndon Johnson - 2nd January
 * blow for the agency caps a miserable 2009'' - The loss of seven, perhaps more, CIA operatives at Base Chapman caps what has been a miserable year for the most important American intelligence agency, even by its own unhappy recent standards - 1st January



Articles: 2009

 * car park: a celebration of its place in history'' - A new exhibition examining the evolution of the humble garage proves enthralling - 27th December 2009
 * world both shrunken and more divided'' - What grounds for optimism at the end of a dismal decade? - 26th December
 * clash exposes sickness in US'' - Climactic battle in Washington this Christmas could decide the fate of Obama's presidency - 20th December
 * puts a festive gloss on racial harmony'' - Out of America: Disney's first black cartoon heroine is a small, but significant, milestone on a long and bumpy road - 13th December
 * age of uncertainty'' - Rupert Cornwell begins a four-part series of essays to mark 10 years since the dawn of the 21st century - 7th December
 * Monty Python taught Uncle Sam'' - Out of America: In a troubled world, the US remains determined to 'always look on the bright side of life' - 6th December
 * now on this is Obama's war'' - Watching him make the most important speech of his term was depressing - 5th December
 * must explain how he'll get them out'' - The President is accused of being too ruthless – or not tough enough - 1st December
 * politics turns into one big 'reality' show'' - Out of America: Sarah Palin is the supreme example of today's blurred lines between populism on air, and power on Capitol Hill - 29th November
 * the turkeys don't look forward to Thanksgiving'' - This week sees the best festival of the American year - 22nd November
 * will be on trial with 9/11 accused'' - President's decision could rebound. US courts are not used to defendants who've been tortured - 15th November
 * of sending men to their deaths'' - The more Barack Obama thinks about Afghanistan, the more intractable the problem becomes - 13th November
 * can't the US learn to love its government?'' - Out of America: Suspicion of rulers dates to the founding of the nation – and even Obama is unlikely to change that - 8th November
 * warning for both Democrats and right-wing conservatives'' - This week's off-year elections sent the same lesson to both Democrats and Republicans. In the US, as in every other democracy, elections are won and lost in the centre. Parties that ignore that truth do so at their peril - 5th November
 * faces crunch time over head injuries'' - Growing evidence poses a major dilemma for US's most popular sport - 1st November
 * the hoax in the land of Fox News'' - 'Balloon Boy' took the nation in – but it's even harder to distinguish fact from fiction among polarised TV networks - 25th October
 * Mormon who could save Obama's skin'' - The searchlight is on the man from Searchlight, Nevada - 18th October
 * are the problem'' - As its hopes of healthcare reform suffer endless interference on Capitol Hill, how the Obama administration must wish it was operating by British rules - 14th October
 * Tony Soprano's home town, fat is a political issue'' - Can a fat man be elected governor of a major state? - 11th October
 * real world has little time for prizes'' - Was this an attempt to boost Obama’s prestige as he takes on global problems? - 10th October
 * Edwards – from golden boy to national disgrace'' - Once he was a candidate for the vice-presidency. Today, he is a pariah - 4th October
 * the government? Love the national parks'' - Out of America: A new TV series aims to persuade the US that a publicly owned service run for the benefit of the people can be a good thing - 27th September
 * America reached the turning point in Afghanistan?'' - Stay and fight – or cut and run? 36 years after the Vietnam withdrawal, heavy losses and mounting dissent force Obama to consider turning US strategy on its head - 24th September
 * the reality may not match Obama's rhetoric'' - Listen to President Obama's stern words yesterday, and you'd assume nothing will ever be the same on Wall Street again. Speeches, however, are not laws. For the time being nothing, legally, has changed since the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year ago. And there's no guarantee it will - 15th September
 * the US at last admit it executed an innocent man?'' - The case of Cameron Todd Willingham could mark a turning point for justice - 13th September
 * words, but a hard slog ahead'' - He laid out America's healthcare debate in its hideously complicated reality - 11th September
 * wolf returns – and brings fear and strife in his tracks'' - For years a rare and protected species, Canis lupus is now fair game again – but it's the hunters who are under fire - 6th September
 * was the cruellest month for Obama'' - The US President is still a hero abroad, but at home he has fallen to earth with an unprecedented bump. Can he pick himself up? - 6th September
 * right-wing crackpots taking over the mainstream'' - Out of America: The resurgence of militias and race-hate groups at the same time as President Obama's healthcare reforms are coming under attack may not be mere coincidence - 16th August
 * needs to cool down'' - The nonsense spewed out by the reform opponents can be breathtaking - 15th August
 * hero tackles US over prisons'' - Dumping grounds for drug addicts, the mentally ill and petty thieves exposed by Democrat senator - 9th August
 * is back – charismatic and on message'' - For an hour or two at Burbank airport yesterday, America's political clock rewound a decade - 6th August
 * could spell end of nuclear standoff with US'' - As always, it is hard to read the mind of North Korea - 5th August
 * on, take a trip to Cockroach Hall of Fame'' - Some are majestic, others weird, but halls of fame in the US are a great excuse to get off the freeway - 2nd August
 * Peltier: brutal cop killer, political prisoner, or symbol of a defeated people?'' - Out of America: A native American who has spent 32 years in jail for a crime he says he did not commit will get a parole hearing next week - 26th July
 * curious case of Hillary Clinton, the missing Secretary of State'' - Out of America: While Barack Obama is shining on the foreign stage, his former rival has been conspicuous by her absence - 19th July
 * US needs a truth and reconciliation inquiry'' - Revelations about Dick Cheney demand for a broad investigation into the war on terror - 13th July (See also: Cheney 'set up illegal secret spy project')
 * at bay and tales of the wild east'' - Sometimes, even in this most modern of countries, you can see America as it was in the beginning - 12th July
 * step forward, but a long way to go yet'' - This "reset" summit between the US and Russia not only addressed the spread of nuclear weapons, but also gave implicit US acknowledgement of Moscow's importance - 7th July
 * hope of a new start with Russia'' - Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton want to press the "reset" button in US relations with Russia, after the tensions of the later Bush years. Alas, Barack Obama's trip to Moscow is likely to prove how difficult this will be, especially when an authoritarian regime in the Kremlin hankers for Soviet-era "parity" with the US - 6th July
 * praise of the redoubtable Mrs Sanford'' - Some scandals involving sex and American politicians make you cringe - 5th July
 * and right turn on 'Bush-like' Obama'' - Out of America: Despite an avalanche of legislation working its way through Congress, the President risks achieving very little of what he wants - 28th June
 * raw portrait, but why did he tape himself?'' - Sometimes you truly feel sorry for Richard Nixon. Why should anyone, 15 years after his death, having suffered the greatest disgrace in American political history, continue to be bombarded with irrefutable evidence of his own sins? - 25th June
 * odd couple in capital city of spies'' - Couple who face trial as Cuban agents seem to be naive romantics - 21st June
 * still control the ballot box in the age of Obama'' - These are baffling times on the front lines of America's great culture wars - 14th June
 * is Obama's greatest test'' - Not hauling the global economy out of recession, or saving his country's banking system - 12th June
 * Obama authors get ready to throw the book at him'' - Out of America: In the US, political books that matter are not tired memoirs but the deadliest form of journalism - 7th June
 * California goes bust...'' - ... and even the trees face the big squeeze - 31st May
 * come and go, but these judges are for life'' - Obama must make a crucial choice this weekend - 24th May
 * bruiser back from the political dead and spoiling for another fight'' - President Obama v Dick Cheney - 22nd May
 * life, death and rebirth of Bonnie and Clyde'' - Out of America: The gangsters met their grisly deaths 75 years ago. As the anniversary is commemorated, will their real story at last be told? - 17th May
 * can wait, but only a year'' - Two of the US President's humanitarian plans were put on hold last week after pressure from the military - 17th May
 * a U-turn, he's just making the best of a bad job'' - Mr Obama has described the military tribunal system as deeply flawed. In reality, any move by the Obama administration to move the prisoners into the regular court system would almost certainly unleash a public and Congressional storm that could delay the process even longer - 16th May
 * Republicans, it can't get any worse'' - A resurgent Dick Cheney is the last thing his party needs - 15th May
 * more states back gay marriage, but will Obama?'' - The issue is still bitterly divisive, especially in the conservative heartlands, but there are clear signs that the country's attitudes to gays are changing - 10th May
 * face up to Specter of a grim future'' - How much further can they fall? - 3rd May
 * far, Obama's even seeing off the satirists'' - Out of America: America's cartoonists were quick to depict Clinton as a waffle and Bush as a Stetson. But they daren't touch the new President - 26th April
 * even seeing off the satirists'' - What are self-respecting political humorists to do? - 26th April
 * 100 days: A dazzling debut?'' - Will the first three months of America's first black president be remembered as a triumph? History can be a cruel judge - 22nd April (see also: Obama: 100 days, 100 ways)
 * is the 'I could not afford to go to college' generation'' - Many wonder whether a degree is worth it - 19th April
 * doesn't need a witch-hunt'' - Publication of such detailed memos on torture is stunning enough - 18th April
 * of America: All together now: My country club, 'tis of thee'' -Augusta's privileged acres should be haunted by the voice of a woman persecuted for her race - 12th April
 * in US ice hockey, showmanship has its limits'' - What's an exuberant Russian kid, the most thrilling hockey player of the age, supposed to do when he breaks a club scoring record: put on a Vladimir Putin-like scowl, skate back to centre-ice and pretend nothing has happened? - 11th April
 * the recession be the death of Old Sparky?'' - The average cost of a death penalty case has risen to as much as $250m. For many states, that's simply too much - 22nd March
 * needs to start governing'' - The new President still comes across as oddly insubstantial – as if he were still campaigning - 21st March
 * time the US had 'union tyranny''' - A new law will finally level a playing field tilted against organised labour - 15th March
 * desperation, the defeated right turns to Rush Limbaugh'' - Many strange things have happened in America, in this young age of Obama - 8th March
 * so special about us?'' - America's most important alliance is not with Britain, but with China - 3rd March
 * days economists fly in corporate jets'' - Power is shifting from bankers to presidential advisers - 1st March
 * President decides he needs to act fast and think big'' - Barack Obama's message is clear: Americans, fasten your seatbelts - 26th February
 * age of US newspapers ends with a whimper'' - Destruction of an industry with a proud heritage - 22nd February
 * public enemy No 1 – but he's in peanuts, not banking'' - Who's the most vilified man in the US? - 15th February
 * believe the critics – Obama is off to a good start'' - For once a US politician is treating his electorate as grown-ups - 13th February
 * it's Super Bowl...'' - ... Tomorrow it's back to the bailout - 1st February
 * years of mistrust, Kremlin offers an olive branch to the US'' - 29th January
 * clock's ticking... first impressions count'' - Every US president is judged by his first 100 days. But those of Barack Obama are almost certain to be the most momentous and transformative since Franklin Roosevelt took power at the depths of the Great Depression - 22nd January
 * usual soaring rhetoric, but delivered with a hard edge'' - At times, Obama was astonishingly blunt. "Swill" does not usually feature in such a speech - 21st January
 * In the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln'' - Barack Obama prepares to swear on Tuesday to 'preserve, protect and defend' the constitution of the US, but so much more rests on his shoulders. Can he fulfil the huge expectations? - 18th January
 * Clinton will have to make her vital choices quickly'' - Obama’s agenda– Part 3: Foreign policy - 17th January
 * plans for change will not escape this slump intact...'' - ... and the problem is getting worse by the day - 16th January
 * burns the 'midnight rules' oil'' - He is trying to preserve his legacy with a flurry of decrees and interviews - 4th January



Articles: 2008

 * have hopes been higher – and never has the job been tougher'' - On 20 January, Barack Obama will become President of the United States. His preparation has been faultless. Soon, we will learn if all the optimism is justified - 28th December 2008
 * am I bid for a Senate seat?- Half a million should do it'' - Chicago politics has always been a sewer, but this scandal is a throwback to the days of Al Capone - 14th December 2008
 * steps out from shadow of Clintons'' - What becomes of an ex-president? Some, like Jimmy Carter, win Nobel prizes. And then there's Bill Clinton - 7th December 2008
 * last! The cure for Chicago's inferiority complex has arrived'' - No more 'Second City' for the president-elect's adopted home town - 30th November 2008
 * calmly, Obama is putting together a remarkable team'' - Out of America: Even senior Republicans admit that – on paper, at least – the president-elect is assembling a very impressive administration - 23rd November 2008
 * opponent is now the best choice'' - There are many clever explanations for Barack Obama's apparent decision to endow America with its third Madam Secretary of State in a decade - 22nd November 2008
 * can the Republicans go now?'' - The comparison is the 1997 rout of the Tories - 21st November 2008
 * is no time to be waiting for the 44th President'' - Amid this fast-moving global economic crisis, Washington's interregnum feels dangerously long - 16th November 2008
 * the victory, what next?'' - President-elect Barack Obama has already started to put his team in place – just as well, given the scale of the challenges he will face come January - 9th November 2008
 * Bush's toxic legacy did for his party'' - The Republicans are now facing a civil war between centrists and conservatives - 5th November 2008
 * spectacular volte-face in the spiritual home of capitalism'' - Washington's plan to part-nationalise some of the country's largest banks is an astonishing – if inevitable – volte-face by the country that sees itself as the spiritual home of unadulterated free-market capitalism - 15th October 2008
 * should fear the Boogie Man'' - The late Lee Atwater may return to haunt the Obama campaign if desperate Republicans resort to his infamous tactics - 5th October 2008
 * defeat of bill exposes failures of the US political system'' - 30th September 2008
 * risks wrath of Main Street to save the banks'' - A populist leader has been forced to put the interests of Wall Street ahead of public opinion - 26th September 2008
 * is a bigger threat to the US than the financial crisis'' - As Americans look the other way, Tehran's bomb moves closer - 24th September 2008
 * Street meltdown rekindles Obama's fire'' - Out of America: After a summer in which the Republican candidate has made all the running, events are at last starting to fit the Democrats' script - 21st September 2008
 * is swimming against the tide'' - Americans may like him personally, but an unpopular president and the economy may prove his downfall - 7th September 2008
 * will pick a president, not his running mate'' - 5th September 2008
 * is Obama the saviour of his party?'' - 28th August 2008
 * the kid a drink and stop alcohol abuse'' - Sneaking off to the bar is all part of college life, even if it is illegal for most. But plans to relax the law have had a shaky start - 24th August 2008
 * return of the great powers'' - Russia lost the original Cold War, but the United States is now weaker than it was 20 years ago - 16th August 2008
 * Little to do, lots to learn for impotent US'' - Russia's military crushing of Georgia confronts the US with a stark choice – whether to challenge Moscow in its own backyard, or tacitly concede its sphere of influence there - 15th August 2008
 * sex scandals can be sad, pathetic or astounding. A few are entertaining. The case of John Edwards is not among them'' - 10th August 2008
 * Cool guy, Barack. But could he be too cool for US voters? - The Democrat candidate can come across as cerebral and fastidious, even supercilious- Wednesday, 6th August 2008
 * If a family gathering of mainly rock-solid Republicans in conservative Nebraska is anything to go by, McCain doesn't have a hope - Sunday, 3rd August 2008
 * If Barack Obama becomes President, it will be thanks to the struggles of the civil rights generation. - But he can't expect gratitude from all of them - Sunday, 13th July 2008
 * George W Bush and Ronald Reagan used 'values' issues - 'God, guns and gays' - to persuade conservatives to vote against their own economic interests. This time, though, the pocketbook is more likely to prevail - Sunday, 29th June 2008
 * America loves both the law and the gun - How can the thoughts of the 18th century be applied to gun control in the 21st? - Saturday, 28th June 2008
 * A triumph of realism and pragmatism over neo-conservatism - Friday, 27th June 2008
 * Michelle Obama can seem prickly and resentful. Now a media makeover is under way to turn her into First Lady material - Sunday, 22nd June 2008
 * For a country where the car is king, the soaring price of oil means some long-cherished assumptions are being challenged as never before - Sunday, 15th June 2008
 * Cuban leader must learn from Gorbachev's mistakes - Friday, 13th June 2008
 * Barack Obama has inspired a generation, but his toughest battles are yet to come - Thursday, 5th June 2008
 * Big Brown win will not whitewash racing woe - Saturday, 31st May 2008 (Sport)
 * The ghost of the infamous Florida recount of 2000 is hovering over the Democrats' nomination battle - Sunday, 25th May 2008
 * The US constitution can't let Bush go: The system surely makes it far too difficult to get rid of a president - Saturday, 24th May 2008
 * Don't be too hard on the 43rd President. Putting away his golf clubs – in his gilded life – means real deprivation - Sunday, 18th May 2008
 * Jeremiah Wright's latest outburst has put Obama firmly on the defensive... - Sunday, 4th May 2008
 * We must never forget the evil inspired by Hitler's regime - Thursday, 1st May 2008
 * Curse this sheer dumb Republican luck! - Thursday, 24th April 2008
 * The PM, the Pope, and some political realities - Friday, 18th April 2008
 * The obsession with polygraphs ignores the problem of human fallibility - Sunday, 13 April 2008
 * Even a visit to an alley by Barack Obama last week couldn't boost the image of what used to be the quintessential blue-collar pastime - Sunday, 6th April 2008
 * The world's lone superpower is on the wane - Wednesday, 19th March 2008
 * John McCain made a name for himself with his attack on funding for politicians' pet projects. But now the grizzlies have bitten back - Sunday, 16th March 2008
 * Obama may be ahead in the delegate count and favourite for the Democratic nomination, but last week's figures showing that the US is heading for recession provided what could still be a decisive campaign boost for Hillary - Sunday, 9th March 2008
 * Last week's public bust-up between John McCain and one of talk radio's shrillest commentators marks the end of an era in US conservative politics - Sunday, 2nd March 2008
 * Clinton's apparent admission of defeat is the best chance she has of saving her troubled presidential campaign - Sunday, 24th February 2008
 * If neither Obama nor Clinton has the nomination sewn up by August, it's down to the likes of Sandy, Heather and Fagafaga - Sunday, 17th Feburuary 2008
 * Right place, right time, right way to win an election - Thursday, 14th February 2008
 * Torture, terror and a trial system that is tainted - Wednesday, 13th February 2008
 * Whoever wins the presidency will most likely fail to take on the unholy trinity of arms manufacturers, the Pentagon, and Congress - Sunday, 10th February 2008
 * This could go all the way to a floor-fight at the convention - Thursday, 7th February 2008
 * Lawrence Tynes came to the US almost two decades ago as a soccer-mad 10-year-old from Greenock. Today, he will be hoping to kick his New York Giants team into the history books with victory on America's most prestigious sporting stage - Sunday, 3rd February 2008 (Sport)
 * Feisty underdog must now watch his temper - Friday, 1st February 2008
 * Daniel Schorr, a veteran of the Murrow generation, is a national treasure - Sunday, 27th January 2008
 * Lessons of history spell trouble for the Republicans - Wednesday, 23rd January 2008
 * It's that same old promise again: Change, change, change. No election can take place without this buzzword - Saturday, 12th January 2008
 * Instead of the coronation of Barack Obama, we witnessed the triumph of democracy - Thursday, 10th January 2008
 * Clinton's best hope may come from belated show of emotion - Wednesday, 9th January 2008
 * He's a Kansan-Kenyan, and he's on a roll. Could this inspirational Democrat rip victory from Clinton's grasp? - Sunday, 6th January 2008



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