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.
Like this page on Facebook for updates
Andreas Whittam Smith: Wholesale privatisation is not what people voted for
Lib Dem ministers haven’t any moral authority whatever to agree to measures that change the relationship between the citizen and the state.
Recently by Andreas Whittam Smith
Andreas Whittam Smith: Protests that can't just be dismissed as 'student politics'
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Social media make possible a grassroots democracy that has never been available before. Its power is very great
Andreas Whittam Smith: Cameron's charity bank is all part of rebranding the Tories
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Suppose the naughty, unremorseful bankers could be persuaded to participate in the charitable enterprise. That would make the Government look good
Andreas Whittam Smith: We need closure, not compromise over banks
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Their speculative, wild binge cost us £140bn in a single year. So it is not yet time to forgive and forget such reckless behaviour
Andreas Whittam Smith: Social networks are now the tyrant's weapon of choice, too
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Crowd-sourcing is meant to be one of the internet's neatest ideas. But it can also be used by authoritarians, for the purpose of censorship
Andreas Whittam Smith: Cameron is guilty of moral blindness
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
How far does the writ run of appeasing News International? If it runs at all, we can confidently say that it starts from No. 10
Andreas Whittam Smith: Protest movements don't need a spearhead to be successful
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Just like the Tea Party, those on the streets of Tunis must ask: can we remain as a protest group of watchful citizens, or must we mutate from protest into power?
Andreas Whittam Smith: Arrogant, patronising and rude. Remind you of anyone?
Thursday, 13 January 2011
The French get off to an excellent start so far as manners is concerned with their use of 'Monsieur' and 'Madame' when addressing people they don't know well
Andreas Whittam Smith: Anonymity in the information age is power
Thursday, 16 December 2010
If the group of computer hackers who call themselves Anonymous have a system at all, it could be called 'organised chaos'
Andreas Whittam Smith: GPs will have to sprout angel wings to handle this madness
Thursday, 9 December 2010
So the path to enhanced localism goes via the Kremlin. It is a weird way to go.
Andreas Whittam Smith: A nearby country of which we know shamefully little
Thursday, 2 December 2010
The repeated feeling of victimhood, which surfaced during the Thirty Years' War, is useful in assessing Germany's attitude to the euro crisis
Columnist Comments
• Mary Ann Sieghart: We've been blackmailed long enough
In other walks of life, people take pride in their work because of what they do
• Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Where are the men to help women fight their battles?
We fighti on for respect and rights
• Stephen King: The ECB needs to look at the bigger picture
Should interest rates be going up with the eurozone in such a state?
Most popular in Opinion
Read
1 Mary Ann Sieghart: We've been blackmailed long enough
2 Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Where are the men to help women fight their battles?
3 Johann Hari: David Cameron’s assault on the homeless is Dickensian
4 Mary Dejevsky: We need names behind 'debacle in the desert'
5 Leading article: A call for growth that cannot mask economic reality
6 Robert Fisk: The Tunisian whose jihad was for the people, not God
7 Howard Jacobson: Zion is all around if you look hard enough
8 Robert Fisk: The historical narrative that lies beneath the Gaddafi rebellion
Emailed
1 Johann Hari: David Cameron’s assault on the homeless is Dickensian
2 Leading article: The dangers of a circuitous approach
3 Robert Fisk: The Tunisian whose jihad was for the people, not God
4 Matthew Norman: Get over it Dave, we're not a world power any more
5 James Lovelock: Nuclear power is the only green solution
6 Robert Fisk: The historical narrative that lies beneath the Gaddafi rebellion
7 Andy Martin: But could Che fix his own pistons?
8 Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Where are the men to help women fight their battles?