Friendships between the leaders of nations can be as important as shared interests. So when David Cameron and Barack Obama stand side by side at a White House press conference as they did this week, commentators examine body language as closely as they examine the spoken word. They reported that all things seemed warm and harmonious, even on the most difficult question they had to discuss, Afghanistan. Both countries have soldiers dying there day by day as their forces struggle against the Taliban; in both countries, public opinion has turned sceptical about the justice of the cause; in both, pressure for an exit strategy cannot  be resisted. The two leaders do both have the advantage that neither was in power at the outset, and bear no responsibility for decisions whose consequences they must now deal with. Hence “saving face”, a common factor in political decision-­making when the stakes are high, need not trouble them.

In the grim aftermath of the 11 September attacks on the United States, al-Qaeda and the Taliban were portrayed in the West as being closely linked. They were shown to share a mili­tant Islamist ideology that depicts the West as being on the wrong side of an armed struggle to purify the Muslim world, and that enforces a strict variety of fundamentalism that has no use for Western values of equality or justice. It was part of this portrayal that al-Qaeda and the Taliban were not native but imported: they were incursions, not local rebellions. That was true for al-Qaeda, but not so for the Taliban, although it did attract fair numbers of outsiders to its ranks. But recently the Taliban’s forces have become more and more indigenous – 90 per cent of the casualties they are now suffering were born within 20 miles of where they died.

This raises the crucial question whether, as in Iraq, it is the very presence of foreign forces that now drives the insurrection. The announcement by both Mr Obama and Mr Cameron of ...

France’s decision to ban the wearing of the burka in public by law symbolises the difficulty of reconciling rights when they conflict. This lies at the heart of the dilemma of multicultural societies and applies not just to France but to Great Britain and elsewhere. They do not wish to be culturally imperialist by treating ethnic minorities with disrespect, but nor do they want to set aside their own core values, ...

John Henry Newman’s motto “Heart speaks unto heart” is emerging as the unifying idea of Pope Benedict XVI’s state visit to Great Britain in September. If that helps it to succeed, the Catholic community will have Newman to thank, which is as it should be. Pope Benedict has always been fascinated by him. The chance to preside over his beatifi­cation ceremony in person in Newman’s native ...

Among the greatest achievements of the Catholic Church in Britain, since the restoration of first the English and Welsh hierarchy in 1850 and the Scottish in 1878, has been the creation of its successful schools. They have remained popular with parents and have played a considerable role in transforming what was a poor, predominantly working-class and migrant community into a well-educated minority with its fair share ...

The Tories’ main criticism of hung parliaments and coalition governments during the recent election was that the need for compromise makes them timid. Yet the emergency Budget presented by the Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, this week is as bold as any in living memory. Even those expecting an austerity Budget were taken aback by how far he went. The Right was delighted; the Left dismayed ...