Mary Dejevsky
Mary Dejevsky: Do these headscarves signal a retreat from Europe?
Published: 11 October 2007
In 2003 I revisited Istanbul after a gap of 10 years. The transformation was extraordinary. From a chaotic mega-city in which hawkers and battered buses vied for street space, and horns blared day and night, a recognisably first-world urban civilisation had emerged – exotic, to a Briton, only in the minarets punctuating the skyline, the calls to prayer and the now orderly bazaars.
Mary Dejevsky: Not all revolutions end the way we want
Published: 02 October 2007
Mary Dejevsky: I love going to airports – except for Heathrow
Published: 28 September 2007
The rebel in me took a certain perverse pleasure from hearing the chief executive of British Airways announce that the company had just placed an order for 36 new planes. The gusto with which Willie Walsh defended their eco-friendliness, at a time when flying has become an experience most of us can admit to enjoying only after a long and apologetic preface, was quite simply a delight.
Mary Dejevsky: Shame they were quiet when we went to war
Published: 04 September 2007
The British withdrawal from Basra Palace might not have been defeat as such – there was no panic, no Saigon-style helicopters, and no triumphal enemy firing that we know of – but it was hardly victory, was it? The barest handover formalities were observed, and only after the troops had arrived in the relative safety of their airport base.
Mary Dejevsky: Bank Holidays: let's be rid of this 19th-century notion
Published: 28 August 2007
So you yielded to the temptation to enjoy the weekend sunshine out of town. How long did it take you to get home last night? Perhaps you were stuck on the motorway, thwarted by three lanes reduced to two, a closed tunnel or faulty lights. Perchance your travels were less ambitious, how long did you have to wait for your bus or train, as the holiday weekend gave you a sub-Sunday service? "Thank you for choosing People's Line," the voice intones pleasantly as you alight. No, no, we reply in our long-suffering British way, thank you for running a service at all.
Mary Dejevsky: It's not just nostalgia that makes us hold on to our Premium Bonds
Published: 25 August 2007
In a week that was grey to black, both in weather and the mood of news, one small ray of sunshine briefly lit my personal horizon. My sainted mother won a prize on one of her short run of Premium Bonds. Her joy was out of all proportion to the £50 that came her way – it was the first time any of her numbers had come up in 30 years.
Mary Dejevsky: The days of the first ladies are numbered
Published: 31 July 2007
Mary Dejevsky: Home ownership is a fixation we need to get over
Published: 24 July 2007
Mary Dejevsky: A fight with Russia we cannot hope to win
Published: 17 July 2007
Mary Dejevsky: By George! Our Scottish PM has got everyone flying the Union flag
Published: 14 July 2007
With every day that has passed since Gordon Brown took office, they have multiplied - no, not legislative acts, but flags. Downing Street, the Treasury, the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office, what used to be called the DTI and the Department for Education, and even MI5: all these buildings are now flying the Union flag.
Mary Dejevsky: Why marriage is a dangerous game in politics
Published: 10 July 2007
Mary Dejevsky: That nice, sensible Ms Smith - she really knows how to handle the boys
Published: 07 July 2007
When a woman arrives in a prominent post, the question is inevitably posed: does having a woman in the top job make any difference? Do "top" women and "top" men behave differently?
Mary Dejevsky: You don't wash a car on a Saturday morning
Published: 03 July 2007
Mary Dejevsky: Don't knock Harriet... she could be a vital weapon
Published: 26 June 2007
Mary Dejevsky: The 'two-state solution' has just imploded
Published: 19 June 2007
Mary Dejevsky: Our think-tanks are failing the interested public
Published: 12 June 2007
Mary Dejevsky: A police chief with the courage to say the unsayable about paedophiles
Published: 02 June 2007
Jim Gamble is a brave man indeed. The head of child protection for the police, no less, has set the cat among the pigeons by arguing that not all paedophiles should automatically be sent to prison. Treatment, he suggested, could be an effective way of dealing with people found guilty of such crimes as viewing child pornography. More serious offences, such as sexual assault, he made clear, should still attract a prison sentence.
Mary Dejevsky: An inconvenient truth for Gordon Brown
Published: 15 May 2007
Mary Dejevsky: Don't be fooled that Sarkozy will be good for us
Published: 08 May 2007
Mary Dejevsky: Is Britain's problem really one of alcohol, or is it something deeper?
Published: 28 April 2007
Alcohol Concern describes itself as the national agency on "alcohol misuse". Among its aims it lists "encouraging debate on the wide range of public policy issues affected by alcohol". Well, it certainly managed that yesterday with its recommendation that parents should be prosecuted if they allow their children to drink alcohol at home before they reach the discernment that comes with 15 years of age.
Mary Dejevsky: The vindication of French democracy
Published: 24 April 2007
Mary Dejevsky: How quickly we forget our recent history and the lessons we learnt
Published: 21 April 2007
The history you have lived through will always be more vivid and instructive than the history that you read or have recounted to you. But I never cease to be amazed by how quickly even very recent history seems to be forgotten. With the memories go the lessons about what to avoid.
Mary Dejevsky: The secret of Putin's crackdown
Published: 17 April 2007
Mary Dejevsky: Recycling is no excuse for leaving bins unemptied
Published: 10 April 2007
Mary Dejevsky: Ministers accepting responsibility! There's a thing
Published: 03 April 2007
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