Matt Yglesias reconsiders his position on arugula. Of course, in Britain we call “arugula” “rocket” – a much more homely, substantial, salt-of-the-earth kind of name, you will agree. A ploughman might have rocket in his sandwich, he’d never have “arugula” would he? Names matter! I can’t recall for certain, but I’m pretty sure arugula used
Jonathan Rauch has a terrific, hilarious column about the McCain campaign. Highly recommended. Excerpt: “We need to go on offense. Our theme is that Barack Obama is too old for the job and that the public needs a younger, more vigorous brand of leadership. OK, here are some scripts we’re looking at.” “Wait, wait, wait.
All gone, now of course. Bryan Appleyard has more: I was once persuaded, against my better judgment, to write to Samuel Beckett in Paris – I knew him slightly – asking him about his hopes and resolutions for the new year. The telegram arrived – ‘Hopes colon zero stop resolutions colon zero stop.’ Christopher Ricks
What was John McCain to do? By that, I mean: what sort of campaign was he supposed to run? Steve Benen says it’s “chilling” that Sarah Palin could be a heartbeat from the Presidency. Matt Yglesias notes the “crassly political” nature of her selection and asks what federal agency or cabinet department she might be
Good grief. A TEAM of NHS nurses is patrolling Scotland’s streets to target pot-bellied members of the public and tell them how to lose weight. Armed with measuring tapes to check waists and equipment to test blood pressure, the “Street Nurses” are policing busy shopping centres, supermarkets and community centres. Any man with a paunch,
As readers may know by now, I’m hopelessly in love with college football. Within that realm, I follow the University of Michigan. Today, the Wolverines travel to South Bend, Indiana to face Notre Dame. The two most successful programs in college football history go face to face in what is, given their respective recent travails,
What a choice Americcans have! There’s the elderly candidate with precious little interest in domestic policy whose signature legislative achievement was to abridge the First Amendment and whose running mate, for all her charms and freshness, is not someone you’d be terribly comfortable seeing running the country. Then there’s the young fellow who, for all
So, the conventional wisdom is that Gordon Brown has survived and will not, in fact, face a leadership challenge anytime soon. Why? Because it’s too difficult to get rid of him and, in any case, there’s no obviously more palatable successor. As the BBC’s Nick Robinson put it this morning: Friends of the Prime Minister
I’ve a piece up at Culture11 considering some of the problems Europe may face when confronted by the next American president. Snippet: The election of a new American President is also a test. One which will determine, as is sometimes avowed, if European discontent is merely a manifestation of anti-Bushism rather than a more virulent,
Wins my support. How could he not, him being a Trinity man and the only Nobel laureate for literature to have played first-class cricket? [Hat-tip: Alex Ross]
Ever wondered how common your surname may be? Ever wondered where folk who share your name live? Well, now you can find out! Unsurprisingly, Massies tend to be found in the UK and the dominions. In fact Massie is now a more common name in Canada (46 of us per million names), the USA (41)
Radley Balko says that, yes, perhaps she is. At least sort of. At least more so than her running-mate and, it must be said, more so than Barack Obama. True, Radley has to dig quite deep to find the ore to be refined into a “Sarah Palin, Friend-to–the-Libertarians” bracelet, but there’s at least a trace
I guess this is going to get some attention: EXCLUSIVE: GOV. SARAH PALIN WARNS WAR MAY BE NECESSARY IF RUSSIA INVADES ANOTHER COUNTRY Well, yes and no. Here’s what Sarah Palin told ABC News’s Charlie Gibson: GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldn’t we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?
Camille Paglia agrees with me. Should I be worried? Sarah Palin is like Annie Oakley, a brash ambassador from America’s pioneer past. She immediately reminded me of the frontier women of the Western states, which first granted women the right to vote after the Civil War — long before the federal amendment guaranteeing universal woman
I was going to write about Jonathan Freedland’s absurd column in today’s Guardian, but thankfully Norm has said pretty much all that needs to be said. Do these people really want to increase one’s sympathy for McCain? Because all this stuff about how the US owes it to the rest of the world to elect
Democrats have abandoned the idea of avoiding Sarah Palin to concentrate on John McCain. Oh dear. Let’s see what Joe Biden has been up to: Exhibit A: In Wisconsin, Biden is asked if Sarah Palin represents a step forward for women. His response: “well look, I think the issue is what does Sarah Palin think?
Borges quipped that the Falklands War was akin to two bald men fighting over a comb and you might think that something similar could be said of the question: which is the best (American) cable TV news channel? Still, I’m glad that the New Republic has its groove back, publishing this fun piece by Greg
How will Lbour fight the next election? Stupidly, it seems. According to a briefing paper obtained by the Guardian, Labour “has decided to attack the Conservatives at the next election as an unreconstructed, dangerous rightwing party that is only masking its true instincts behind slick positioning.” Oh dear. Labour argue that: “Occasionally the mask slips
A mini-blogging hiatus, folks, as I’m off to Glasgow tonight to see the one and only Emmylou Harris play at the Royal Concert Hall. I assume Norm will be seeing the great lady when her tour reaches Manchester in a couple of days time. I think Chris Dillow is also a fan and – since
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