Can Israel go on like this?
Sean Rayment in The Spectator
Israel's "aim" in Gaza is "the complete annihilation of Hamas", writes defence correspondent Sean Rayment. It is "at best nebulous" and "at risk of undermining Israel's entire military strategy". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's actions have resulted in a humanitarian disaster and "all indicators suggest that the West is now running out of patience". Israel's "big question" now is: "when the fighting eventually stops – who will be responsible for what happens next?"
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Time for early Christmas presents, Chancellor!
Daily Mail editorial board
"The midnight oil has been burning at the Treasury" and Jeremy Hunt is "trying to navigate between keeping a responsible rein on public finances and showing families and businesses that bright times beckon", says the Daily Mail. The task is "fiendishly difficult" and this week's Autumn Statement could be "make-or-break". With "the economy sputtering along", announcing tax cuts "by a penny or two would be like Christmas coming early".
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Billionaires are out of touch and much too powerful. The planet is in trouble
Rebecca Solnit in The Guardian
"The rich are bad for the Earth," writes Rebecca Solnit, in response to a new report that found the world's wealthiest 1% are responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%. These "climate wreckers" function in "a sort of freelance global aristocracy", deploying their power "in arbitrary, reckless and often environmentally destructive ways". The world's super-rich are "giants trampling underfoot both nature and our efforts to protect it".
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In troubling times like these, let us watch cake
Juliet Samuel in The Times
Wondering "what to watch as a wind-down from the horrors of the news?" asks Juliet Samuel. "Bake-Off: The Professionals" is "just the thing". Tune in to see "a dozen adults scrambling" to whip up "fraisiers, prinsesstårta, les misérables" and more, as "some impossible baking deadline" looms. The spectacle "makes me love humanity, for our whimsy, our eccentricity and our single-minded pursuit of perfection in even the most bizarre and seemingly trivial of fields".
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