The Periscope Post

The best opinion writing from Sunday’s papers, all in one place. Brought to you by Caroline Crampton.

Matthew d’Ancona in The Sunday Telegraph marked the week of the coalition’s emergency budget as a turning point in our society at large, saying that “This Budget was a stern call to action, as well as an inventory of measures and objectives: it invited the political class and the public alike to grow up”. D’Ancona felt that the Chancellor’s offering “crackled with political energy”, but also warned that this was the “easy bit”.

An editorial in The Observer assessed the likely outcomes of George Osborne’s austerity budget, and concluded that it risks creating a “lost generation” of young people, who will not receive funded training because of spending cuts, and thus will be unable to take the “first vital step up the ladder of prosperity” when the recovery comes.

Eleanor Mills in The Sunday Times reflected on the women who are “finding a new way to the top” and admitted that the myth of “having it all” also involves the “either/or” dichotomy of a choice between work and home. The trouble is, said Mills, that there is no “off-ramp/on-ramp structure in most companies for mothers”, meaning that women are less likely to return to the workforce having raised a family. If we can sort out this “new female career trajectory”, we might just see a real change in the way women progress in the workplace.

Frank Rich in The New York Times looked back over the “36 hours that shocked Washington” and which saw President Obama dismiss General McChrystal. But however inevitable the dismissal may have been portrayed as by the media, we must not forget that “Once made the top commander in Afghanistan, the general was kept on long past his expiration date. He should have been cashiered after he took his first public shot at Joe Biden during a London speaking appearance last October.”

George F. Will in The Washington Post has some “vapid and hollow” questions for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, including “If Congress concludes that ignorance has a substantial impact on interstate commerce, can it constitutionally require students to do three hours of homework nightly?” and “Is it constitutional for Arizona to devote state resources to enforcing federal immigration laws?” – he’s “just wondering”, Elena.

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