They're not happy, these bankers who've been forced to resign, are they? For example Fred Goodwin, who's lost his £4.1m salary at Royal Bank of Scotland and must now manage on a £580,000 pension, seemed furious, as if he was a sacked docker from the 1980s, and you expected him to shout "Brothers and sisters, I call upon you to oppose this injustice as General Secretary of the National Union of Outrageous Bonus Receivers and Allied Parasitic Trades".

It's a weird one, agriculture. On the one hand, it's a job that nobody seems to want, the ultimate arduous, thankless, profitless occupation – the suicide rate among farmers is higher than in any other profession. On the other hand, farming is top of the list for those who have absolutely everything, the ultimate "happily-ever-after" set-up. If you're just incredibly fabulous, farming is the only serious choice. Look at Sting – farmer. Look at Paul McCartney – vegetable...
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The extraordinary spectacle of "our right trusty and well beloved counsellor" Baron Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool, clad in ermine, receiving the sovereign's "greetings" in the House of Lords was, at first glance, enough alone to make the case for an elected and reformed second chamber. As a senior cabinet minister, Lord Mandelson has no electoral legitimacy of a parliamentary constituency and has been forced to resign twice from previous cabinets amid swirls of scandal. But,...
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Does not Andy Burnham realise that libraries are the only places today where peace and quiet can be found (" 'Sombre' libraries need chatter and coffee shops, minister says" 9 October). Where else can one read, use a computer and study in peace in today's frenetic Britain?

Acknowledging, naturally, their terrible mistake in passing over our columnist Philip Hensher's Sheffield-based magnum opus The Northern Clemency, we are gratified to see that this year's Booker judges have not been afraid to take a punt on an interesting new voice. In awarding the prize to first-time novelist Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger, the judges are continuing a tradition of promoting fresh, first-rate fiction from the Indian subcontinent.

You could, if you were of a cynical cast of mind, argue that the Government has exploited the big news of the banking rescue to "bury" a slew of reversals in other areas. These would include the abandonment of the anti-terrorist measures discussed in another of today's leading articles, and the abolition – announced out of the blue by the Children's Secretary, Ed Balls, yesterday – of national tests for 14-year-olds. Political opportunism cannot be excluded. But that does not...
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The defence of liberty against this government is less like a single battle, and more akin to a prolonged campaign against a determined insurgency. This was shaping up to be a heartening week for those concerned about civil liberties. On Monday night, the Government's bill to extend pre-charge detention for terror suspects to 42 days was thrown out by the House of Lords. Instead of pledging to send the Counter-Terrorism Bill directly back to the upper chamber, the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith...
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It is awesome, isn't it, to see how powerful the world's financial authorities are when they act together? For some weeks the markets have been bitching that the governments and central banks did not grasp the gravity of the financial situation; that their response was piecemeal and tardy.

It is not helpful to describe Sharon Edwards as "walking free" from court. The 40-year-old pleaded guilty this week to four charges of sexual activity with a child, and one of offering to supply Class A drugs. She may not indeed be in jail, but nor is she entirely at liberty.