Adrian Hamilton

The Independent’s comment editor, Adrian Hamilton writes a weekly column largely on international affairs with particular focus on the Middle East, Iran and foreign policy issues. Before joining the paper he was deputy editor of the Observer newspaper.

Adrian Hamilton: We don't have to live with a mendacious mayor

Yes, yes. I know everyone is getting tired of the London mayoral election,. Outside of the city most people couldn't care less. Even within London there's a mood of weariness with a campaign that seems to have been based entirely on personality preferences.

Recently by Adrian Hamilton

Adrian Hamilton: An ethical foreign policy is still within reach

Thursday, 24 April 2008

No apologies for returning to the subject of human rights and an ethical foreign policy. It's what concerns a great many people. And it isn't just because of a knee-jerk reaction to horror pictures on the television. Out there, among ordinary citizens, there is a feeling that it shouldn't be like it is, not in this day and age of global communication and huge wealth.

Adrian Hamilton: A way out of this Olympic confrontation

Thursday, 17 April 2008

I have a suggestion for breaking out of the impasse over the issue of Tibet and the Olympics. It is for the West to make the Dalai Lama the arbiter of whether we should attend the opening ceremonies or not. He's for the Olympic Games, after all, and says he wants them to be a success. It's the treatment of his people he is challenging.

Adrian Hamilton: The Chinese will never compromise over Tibet

Thursday, 10 April 2008

The Chinese say they are still determined to take the Olympic torch through Tibet, for all the demonstrations and worldwide protests. Of course they are. The West consistently misunderstands China's attitude towards Tibet. For Beijing, it is not about the Tibetans and their treatment of them. It is about the territorial integrity of their country.

Adrian Hamilton: Time to disband Nato now the Cold War is over?

Thursday, 3 April 2008

It was Harold Macmillan, ever shrewd in the ways of politics, who said that the only way to hold a successful summit was to have the communiqué already written before you arrived. On that reading, the Nato summit in Bucharest has all the elements of a truly miserable failure.

Adrian Hamilton: Our unpredictable and troublesome guest

Thursday, 27 March 2008

The joy of Nicolas Sarkozy's state visit is that here we have the most passionately pro-British French President in a century and the British have no idea what to do with him. Neither, of course, do the French, who have looked on appalled as their president has rampaged about the world, like a Tigger let lose among the adults.

Adrian Hamilton: Why did so many people support the war in Iraq?

Thursday, 20 March 2008

In all the discussion of the anniversary of our invasion of Iraq, one question has yet to be asked. Why is that so many people went along with it in the first place?

Adrian Hamilton: Now was not the time to pick a fight with the City

Thursday, 13 March 2008

While it is generals who are usually accused of fighting the last war rather than the next, politicians are far more guilty of the charge. Particularly when it comes to tax, they're forever reacting to last year's headlines just as the circumstances are entirely changing. Four months ago duty increases on fuel seemed just the ticket to show firmness on global warming. Today, with the price of oil doubling to well above $100 per barrel, they have proved positively otiose.

Adrian Hamilton: We're still waiting for that debate on Europe

Thursday, 6 March 2008

The Tories and the Liberal Democrats have managed to achieve one thing at least over Europe. After their antics in the Commons over the past week, no one in the public will ever want to hear the word "referendum" again. It has become just another tactic in the parliamentary battle, a matter which has ceased to be about principle, only advantage.

Adrian Hamilton: Passive distaste has turned into active resentment of the wealthy

Tuesday, 4 March 2008

For the past 10 years, Britain has steadfastly resisted all attempts by Germany, France and the Scandinavians to introduce Europe-wide rules to crack down on tax havens and the means by which the rich have avoided paying any local tax. It can't be done, said Gordon Brown as Chancellor. The moneymen, and the money, will only slip away to another tax haven in the West Indies or Asia. If you can't beat them, join them – and with terms just as attractive. Besides which, Britain was in the race to become the global capital of international finance. It wasn't going to be held back by the politics of envy in Bonn or Stockholm.

Adrian Hamilton: Could Turkey create an Islam acceptable to the West?

Thursday, 28 February 2008

It was Manichaeus, the third century founder of the religion that bears his name, who announced his ministry with the statement that he would write his beliefs down himself, in contrast to previous religions, which were riven by internal divisions because their founders never did so.

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