The US has a revolutionary proposal for dealing with global warming-tradeable pollution permits. It is backed by greens and economists alike. Michael Grubb wonders whether it will see the light of day

There is a new optimism about Russia. Douglas Hurd, who here recalls his meetings with Gorbachev and Yeltsin, says it is justified. Even the prospect of a populist president should not alarm the west

Brussels diary

Once our credulity was based on ignorance-now it is based on overload. More than ever before, we need independent intellectuals to sort the wheat from the chaff. But they have disappeared

Anne-Elisabeth Moutet describes how Paris has fallen at the feet of a 72-year-old lady bountiful

Till death us do apart Dear Bridget, When we crossed swords recently, you said that many of us who are concerned about modern trends in family life are simply gazing nostalgically at the 1950s, when...

Anne Frank's diaries have appeared in at least three versions since her death in 1945. That even the latest "definitive" edition may not be so definitive

In some areas of welfare, the state should withdraw and encourage private provision. In other areas, such as health and education, this would defeat the point-which is equality of opportunity.

Once there was cause for alarm about the environment, but no longer, claims Gregg Easterbrook; the greens can now go home. Not so.

Welsh devolution is a messy compromise between those who do not want it at all and those who want more. Unlike the Scots, the Welsh are not prepared for change