He's gone

Ray Lewis resigns. And he wasn't a magistrate either, apparently.

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Americans in the making

Here's a Fourth of July time-waster. How would you fare on the US citizenship test that's due to be introduced this autumn? These questions are said to be among the  more difficult ones. Silly me, I managed to mess up number 17. It's the heat, honestly.
[Hat-tip: Booker Rising]

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Second thoughts on Kylie

Not that I want to get dragged into a big debate about the merits of her records, but I wonder if it's really a great idea to defend her by saying she represents everything the Taliban loathes. I've heard people make similar claims about other artists. Are we really that rattled by the men in beards that we feel the need to champion everything that upsets them or some benighted souls in Saudi Arabia? 

I mean, they probably wouldn't like Jerry Springer either, but they wouldn't necessarily be wrong. Kylie's bottom doesn't interest me one way or the other (Helen Mirren's is a different matter) yet it's also worth bearing in mind that, not so long ago, Chuck Berry's ding-a-ling was regarded as the last word in obscenity in this country.

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Westminster in words

National Review publishes a symposium on books everyone ought to be reading. John Podhoretz notices one title is missing:

I am shocked, shocked that no one mentioned what is without question the best political novel ever written — "Phineas Finn", Anthony Trollope's account of an idealistic young member of Parliament and how his naive belief that he can do good things in London is tested by the complicated realities of how power is wielded, how money influences policy, and how compromise is a necessary evil. It is witty and wise and timeless. It is not just the best political novel; it may be the best book about politics ever written.

Continue reading...

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Not a movieplex man

Just as a PS, I like the way Richard Brookhiser, in that same symposium, sidesteps the film question.

Q - Are there any summer movies you’re looking forward to?

A - I don’t see many movies.

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