'The biggest job in UK theatre should go to a woman'

After 60 years, when will the biggest job in UK theatre go to a woman? Why not now?

 Arifa Akbar in The Guardian

 Is it time, asks Arifa Abar in The Guardian, for a woman to helm the National Theatre "for the first time in its 60-year history" once outgoing artistic director Rufus Norris "wraps up his tenure"? The answer "is still being decided by the nation's flagship venue", but Norris's deputy, Clint Dyer, "has said that, in his view, the best person for the job could be a woman". Akbar "would go further", replacing "could" with "should", because "it's not only high time, it's overdue".

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Israel must know that destroying Hamas is beyond its reach

 John Sawers in the Financial Times

Now that the "immediate rage" of the 7 October attacks on Israel has "passed", Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet "are thinking through their options more carefully", former MI6 chief John Sawers writes for the Financial Times. "We should expect search and destroy missions inside Gaza City to take down as much of Hamas's military as they can and to try to rescue hostages." But Israeli "security chiefs know the goal of destroying Hamas is probably beyond their reach". 

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A very long baby name: The Name in Spain

The Times editorial board

Congratulations "are due", says The Times leader, to Fernando Juan Fitz-James Stuart y de Solís, the 17th Duke of Huéscar and heir apparent to the dukedom of Alba, and his wife, Sofía Palazuelo, "who recently had their second child baptised". Public opinion is "divided", however, about the infant's name – Sofía Fernanda Dolores Cayetana Teresa Ángela de la Cruz Micaela del Santísimo Sacramento del Perpetuo Socorro de la Santísima Trinidad y de Todos Los Santos – a choice that "makes Britain's own Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor sound like a model of brevity".

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The Israel-Hamas war is Keir Starmer's greatest test – and he is flailing

 Andrew Fisher for i news

Labour "may be the first opposition party to be in crisis over a foreign policy issue", writes Andrew Fisher for the i news site. Kair Starmer's stance on the Israel-Hamas war has become "the gravest test yet" for his leadership, "and his missteps are already causing huge damage". Although this "may not be an electoral test", Starmer's "unprincipled and clumsy positioning is losing councillors, members and respect, even among his normally loyal MPs". 

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