If we could choose to sound like anyone, Waylon once said, we’d want to sing like George Jones. And frankly, not too many people have ever bothered to disagree with Mr Jennings’ verdict. And like Waylon and so many other country greats, the Possum has not always had his troubles to seek; rather he’s plunged
I really don’t know what to make of this. As politics it’s bizarre, as a kind of performance art it’s mesmerising. And popular. More people watch Glenn Beck than Mad Men. He reaches three million viewrs, which makes him Fox News’s biggest star. As Dave Weigel points out, he’s influential: Beck’s ramblings are helping drive
Well is it? This is one of the great moral issues of our time. Happily, (after the jump) there’s a panel of experts available to debate the matter. The awful thing is that this is horribly close to being a verbatim report from some ghastly cable TV “news” shoutfest. Thank god for the Onion, proving
Earlier this summer, at the end of a conversation on other matters, the (excellent) American blogger Kevin Drum asked for more cricket-blogging. I’m happy to oblige! He said he finds the game “endlessly fascinating” if also puzzling. “I’m pretty much agog” he wrote “at the idea that you have a sport that frequently ends in
According to the Los Angeles Times, KFC are bringing new finger-lickin’ goodness to market. This is the “Double Down” a sandwich made from: two Original Recipe fillets, bacon, Swiss and pepper jack cheese and something called the Colonel’s sauce Sounds delicious! But why are they testing this exciting new product in Rhode Island and
Danny Finkelstein says my Churchill analogy is “cute” but wrong. Churchill had his flaws but is primarily remembered for getting One Big Thing Right; Powell had his qualities but is primarily remembered for getting One Big Thing Wrong. In other words, the two aren’t really comparable and my argument is wrong. I confess this thought
Occasionally you hear or see or read people complaining that Barack Obama’s administration is openly hostile towards Israel and Israeli interests. The purported evidence for this attitude has never persuaded me, but perhaps I’m wrong to be quite so stubborn. Matters become even odder, however, when that criticism is extended to all of liberal American
Anyone who wants to see Mitt Romney fail now should hope he follows the advice given by Lisa Schiffren and Peter Roff and runs for the now open Senate seat in Massachussetts; anyone looking forward to kicking Multiple Choice Mitt in a couple of years time should hope his political instincts haven’t yet deteriorated beyond
If a politician expresses admiration for Winston Churchill do you immediately think that he’s a great fan of, among other considerations, casual indifference to the Bengal famine, the use of chemical weapons in Iraq or the pulverisation and total destruction of German cities? Of course you don’t. But when a politician says he admires Enoch
Patty Murray, Herb Kohl, Johnny Isakson, Michael Enzi, Mike Crapo, Jeff Bingaman, Tom Carper, Daniel Inouy, Thad Cochrane, Blanche Lincoln… You need to be a pretty keen political junkie to know that each of these men and women are current members of the United States Senate. Nor have I cheated by including recent arrivals such
Well, his address to the 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York City is probably Kennedy’s most famous speech. It may not have been his finest hour but it was certainly Bob Shrum’s. Indeed, so successful was it that Shrum has subsequently tried to capture its echoes in speeches written for other, invariably lesser, politicians.
There was plenty to dislike* about Edward Kennedy and some of the opprobrium he attracted was deserved. Some of it was also an honour: Kennedy was worth disliking and, yes, fearing too. He mattered. His death marks the end of an era. Though his son sits in the House of Representatives, Ted Kennedy was
The loathsome Peter King is at it again. Speaking to Politico, he’s up in arms that some people think torturing prisoners is wrong. King, channeling both the sense of outrage and of political opportunity felt in parts of the GOP, defended in detail the interrogation practices — threats to kill a detainee’s family, and or to
Since we’re speaking of lists and, you know, it’s still August, Barack Obama’s summer reading list is a mixture of the good (George Pelecanos) the middlebrow (David McCullough) and the too-contrived-and-appallingly-written (Tom Friedman). Joe Carter critiques the list and asks: In all seriousness, though, what books would you recommend the President read during his vacation?
So, a big hello to Cappuccino Culture, the Spectator’s new culture blog where I see Pete has reposted the list he helped compile for the Spectator’s 50 Essential Films supplement. Just for good measure, Pete’s added another 35 films that would be contenders for his own personal list. Brother Hoskin is a much greater cinephile
From the Guardian’s Comment is Free today: 1. Cuba is an inspiring country for Americans like me to visit – and going there is an important act of civil disobedience 2. A Swedish report about supposed organ-harvesting by troops in the West Bank isn’t antisemitic – it’s just bad journalism. 3. Meerkat forces? Not good
Thanks to Brother Hoskin for mentioning Chris Grayling’s bizarre comparison of urban Britain with the Baltimore of The Wire. Bizarre not because there aren’t problems in Britain but because he’s talking abut a show that, though brilliant, barely anyone watches. One of the great things about the programme, however, is that it’s open to multiple
There’s no need for me to take pro-American lessons from anyone but that doesn’t mean I necessarily or secretly want to be American. That can’t be said of everyone on the British right. Take Douglas Carswell for instance. The MP for Harwich and Clacton is deeply upset by the Scottish government’s decision to free Abdelbaset
Sorry for the light posting: a house full of friends and family explains that. Normal peace and quiet has returned this morning. Which means that, yes, as some readers have suggested it’s time to say something about the Ashes and, for that matter, Jonathan Trott. I had, after all, suggested that England’s decision to choose
The thinking is, I suppose, that this book is about a valet and Wodehouse’s writing featured a gentleman’s gentleman too. Plus, he did make those unfortunate recordings while held prisoner by the Nazis. Nonetheless, I was a trifle surprised to receive an email from Amazon.com suggesting that… As someone who has purchased or rated The