And other oddities. for perhaps the first time ever, I find myself agreeing, in broad terms, with John Prescott. How did this happen and how, for the love of god, did Prezza end up besting my old pal Fraser Nelson? Ah, yes, immigration… As Fraser put it himself: I’ve just done a BBC1 Politics Show
Nurse Bloomberg reveals all: “Nobody knows exactly what they should do, but anything is better than nothing,” New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Bloomberg assuredly knows much more about high finance than I do. Nonetheless, one should treat ideas and policies that have bipartisan backing with an extra level
Kudos to Outskirts Bar and Grill in Canton, Illinois for making possible the best headline of this troubled week: Liquor license suspended after topless ‘midget wrestling’. [Via Best of the Web]
From 1980. Jimmy Carter: Christianist! (OK, there is a reference to the seperation of church and state, but still…)
No blogging for the rest of the day, I suspect. Why? Because I* just unloaded and stacked 200 bales of hay. Best cold beer of the summer being enjoyed right now. *OK, other people helped.
Uganda’s ethics and integrity minister recognises that these are perilous times. Women wearing mini-skirts, he says, are a danger to public safety, responsible for all manner of traffic accidents. What’s wrong with a miniskirt? You can cause an accident because some of our people are weak mentally.” He continued arguing that, “if you find a
More Culture11: I’ve a piece arguing that no-one should be terribly happy about Lance Armstrong’s decision to come out of retirement next season. Snippet: Unlike fans in other sports, such as baseball or track and field, many cycling fans simply don’t see doping as a criminal or ethical offense. In its way, then, cycling is
Remember Al Gore “inventing” the internet? A classic from the Bush campaign in 2000:
Clive Crook is on good form today: I am a huge admirer of Damien Hirst. Not of the art, which is rubbish, but of the sheer productivity and exuberance he brings to his life’s work of fleecing rich idiots. “Oh Damien, you’re a genius. Screw me over again.” “Why not,” he says, munching a bacon
At Culture11, Michael Brendan Dougherty has a fine piece on how the people who run sports are more interested in catering to people who don’t like sport than for those who, like, actually do. He’s writing about the modern baseball experience but everything he says also, of course, applies to cricket. Especially Twenty20 cricket: Like
Small guest-posting at The Plank on taxpayers’ football. We have Newcastle United and Northern Rock, the Americans get AIG and Manchester United. Sums up the “Special Relationship”, you might say… [Link corrected. Thanks NDM]
Richard Nixon in 1968: “Decisions”.
Life – or rather the BBC – emulates The Wire. Frank Sobotka would, I hope, be proud. Full details here.
Christ. The US government seems to have, more or less, bought AIG. Like most bloggers/journalists I don’t for a second pretend to understand these matters. But Megan McArdle doesn’t merely pretend to know something about all this, she actually does. Accordingly, I recommend you read her blog for a smart, savvy, properly sceptical take on
Let me make something very clear: I like, admire and respect Andrew Sullivan and his writing. I can’t remember when I first started reading his blog, but I think it must have been in early 2001. Certainly before 9/11. Since then I suspect I must have read more words written by Andrew than by any
Tom Harris, urbane and sensible blogger and, despite that, Labour MP for Glasgow South, writes: It’s called “Scotland’s shame” for a reason: sectarianism makes you feel embarrassed to be Scottish. I hate it when the subject is even raised when I’m with English friends because I imagine they must look at us as a backward
British observers of American politics tend to love the Yanks’ political advertising, even if many of those same observers might think it quite a good thing that we don’t permit (alas!) such advertising in Britain. Anyway, with the election now just six weeks away, this seems like a good time for an occasional series spotlighting
Today’s episode of the Sarah Palin chronicles comes via Matt Yglesias who asks: I continue to be baffled as to how moose hunting, which surely almost nobody in the United States does given what a small portion of the country is within moose range, has been construed as an all-American hobby. I assume Matt is
American readers may consider themselves fortunate that they have no idea who Tavish Scott is. English readers may do likewise. For that matter, so may many Scots. Nonetheless, Mr Scott, the new leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (titter ye not) did provide one public service at his party’s UK conference last week. He demonstrated
Visiting friends or family with small children? Stuck for a present (toy drums and trumpets are not, I believe, generally considered thoughtful)? Well, my default gift is a collection of Jean de Brunhoff’s wonderful Babar books. You cannot, in my view, and that of most tiny children, go wrong with Babar. So, amidst all the