Andreas Whittam Smith

Andreas Whittam Smith was a financial journalist until 1985 when he led the team that founded The Independent. The paper’s first editor (1986-1994), he has subsequently been the president of the British Board of Film Classification (1998-2002) and chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service (1998-2003). He is currently First Church Estates Commissioner responsible for £5bn of the Church's investments, and chairman of the Children's Mutual.

Andreas Whittam Smith: This Austrian shame is compounded by history

How the Austrians come to terms with Josef Fritzl's terrible crimes will be conditioned by their history as much as by the facts of the case. What is striking about the Austrians is that they have the weakest sense of their own identity of any people in Europe. Whenever they decide who they are, something comes along to show them that it was an illusion.

Recently by Andreas Whittam Smith

Andreas Whittam Smith: Thriftiness just adds to recessionary forces

Monday, 28 April 2008

There are two methods of establishing whether the country is in a recession or not. Either look at the figures for economic activity or observe what consumers are actually doing.

Andreas Whittam Smith: When modesty masks a sense of failure

Monday, 21 April 2008

It has been an unusual experience reading the recently published biography of Bill Deedes, whom I knew well for a period. While he was editor of The Daily Telegraph in the 1970s and 1980s, I was for eight years his city editor. I had never before met anybody like him. Stephen Robinson's excellent book, The Remarkable Lives of Bill Deedes, explains much that had puzzled me.

Andreas Whittam Smith: These verdicts underline the dishonesty of politics

Monday, 14 April 2008

As I counted the calamities that had been heaped on to the Government by the courts during the past few days, the title of the first satirical television programme I ever saw came to mind: That Was The Week That Was. The humiliations started last Tuesday when a High Court judge ruled that retrospective changes to immigration rules for skilled workers were unlawful and "an abuse of power". Then next day, Wednesday, the Government's policy of deporting terror suspects to countries that sign "no torture, no ill treatment deals" was shredded by the Court of Appeal.

Andreas Whittam Smith: The credit crunch will be with us for years to come

Monday, 7 April 2008

To understand big events such as the current credit crisis, you need both horizontal and vertical knowledge. By horizontal knowledge, I mean taking into account a wide range of factors that might bear on the situation.

Andreas Whittam Smith: Yet another reason to condemn Blair over Iraq

Monday, 31 March 2008

You need a big dose of cynicism to understand politics. Yet even though I regularly take my medicine, I was still deeply shocked by my colleague Steve Richards's recent account of the factors that propelled Mr Blair into the Iraq war. His article was published on these pages last Thursday. The decision was, Mr Richards wrote, "part of a New Labour approach to politics".

Andreas Whittam Smith; It's not only the public who don't respect a uniform

Monday, 10 March 2008

The Royal Air Force has had a base at Wittering, near Peterborough, for more than 90 years. You would think that by now it would have become an accepted part of the local scene. Yet the station commander, Group Captain Rowena Atherton, recently gave the order that RAF personnel should not wear their uniforms in the city because of the verbal abuse they might receive.

Andreas Whittam Smith: The financial crisis is moving into its final phase

Monday, 3 March 2008

The financial crisis, which has been running since last summer, and whose most notable incident thus far has been the failure of Northern Rock, is entering its most dangerous phase. On Thursday, there collapsed a £5bn hedge fund, Peloton, based in London.

Andreas Whittam Smith: Media studies is no preparation for journalism

Monday, 25 February 2008

Is it just prejudice that media studies at school and university are widely regarded as a soft option – or as a "one-way ticket to the dole queue", as a former chief inspector of schools put it?

Andreas Whittam Smith: Beethoven, Barenboim, and a moment of magic

Monday, 18 February 2008

Among the countless thrilling experiences that classical music provides, there are two sets of performances that are always special. You may wait for years for either of them to come round. Very fortunately, however, London has provided both in the past six months.

Andreas Whittam Smith: If the Afghans don't want us, why should we stay?

Monday, 4 February 2008

The President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, doesn't think we are doing a good job in his country. In the dangerous area where our troops are deployed we have, apparently, brought only more insecurity. Our decision to remove a brutal and corrupt governor of Helmand province was also a British error. "I made the mistake of listening to them. And when they came in, the Taliban came," remarked Mr Karzai.

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