Like Norm, I liked this and suspect many bloggers (self included) might be wise to bear in mind the wisdom demonstrated by: the late, great Colonel Alfred Wintle, an eccentric and irascible figure who was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1939 for trying to steal an aircraft with which he intended to invade
Justin at Chicken Yoghurt is bang on: It’s difficult to think of another public-facing job where this kind of evasiveness and inarticulacy would be tolerated…. Picture Gordon Brown getting a job in a supermarket or in a bar. ‘Do you know when you’re getting more tuna in?’ ‘This store is working towards fulfilling its demand
One of the sadder constants in international sport is that any major decision made by the International Cricket Council will, more probably than not, damage the long-term best interests of the game. That sorry streak continues today: The result of the controversial 2006 Oval Test between England and Pakistan is to be changed, the BBC
So, General Wesley Clark mouths off about John McCain on TV today, thusly: CLARK: He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron. He
Via Chris Orr and Ross Douthat, I see there’s a trailer for the new Bond flick Quantam of Solace. First impressions? Could be good! Anyway, it has to be better than the latest Bond novel… The first Bond novel, “Casino Royale, was published in 1953. And yet, dated and hackneyed as some of the novels
To all my Canadian pals – and especially those far from their native heath – here’s some video for you to enjoy.
If Philip Morris commissioned research which found that the smoking ban in England & Wales, a year old today, had been a dismal failure many, perhaps even most, people would dismiss said research, considering it partial. Well they would say that wouldn’t they? So why are figures* from anti-smoking organisations such as ASH or Cancer
Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review Online: The front page of the Washington Post (yes, I sometimes read paper newspapers) has the headline “Obama Fiercely Defends His Patriotism.” Isn’t there a problem when a candidate has to “fiercely defend” something so fundamental? Shouldn’t a candidate for president and his advisers and supporters exude such a
James Hamilton from the superb (if infuriatingly-often-on-hiatus) football blog More than Mind Games has a question that merits pondering: If you had to name one player who, in your opinion, epitomised the history of English football (not necessarily its ethos or its greatest moment or its values), who would that be? He doesn’t have to
Amazing. Pupils are being rewarded for writing obscenities in their GCSE English examinations even when it has nothing to do with the question. One pupil who wrote “f*** off” was given marks for accurate spelling and conveying a meaning successfully. His paper was marked by Peter Buckroyd, a chief examiner who has instructed fellow examiners
Memo to the Associated Press and the New York Times: describing Fernando Torres as a “slumping striker” and claiming that he had “been invisible in this tournament” makes you look like a bunch of chumps. Better, you know, to say nothing than expose yourselves in this fashion*. Anyway, having written this genially mean-spirited blast against
SM, a friend from college days, draws my attention to this gem: Australia’s top treasury official is taking five weeks leave to look after endangered wombats. Ken Henry, treasury secretary and animal conservationist, has warned that hairy-nosed wombats are “on death row”. But opposition politicians – and even wombat lovers – question if now is
It’s Clive Lloyd’s turn to lead a side in this series. So here is the L XI, to follow those led by Armstrong, Benaud, Constantine, Dexter, Edrich, Fry, Gower, Hutton, Imran and Jardine and Kapil. 1. Bill Lawry (AUS)2. Justin Langer (AUS)3. Brian Lara (WI)4. Maurice Leyland (ENG)5. Clive Lloyd (WI) (Capt)6. Denis Lindsay (SA)
Briefly*: So, Wendy Alexander is resigning as leader of the Scottish Labour party. In the brave new Scotland even our political scandals are pygmy-sized and fourth-rate. In normal circumstances scandal and disgrace should provide fine entertainment for the public who from time to time like, after all, to see one of their tribunes tossed to
Back to Brideshead! Last month I took a fairly relaxed view of the forthcoming Miramax travesty. The only real question would seem to be whether it is enjoyably or enragingly terrible. The Weekly Standard’s Jonathan Last suspects the latter and seems particularly aggrieved by the treatment Lady Marchmain has received: Yes, the new Brideshead features
The New Republic, America’s most football-friendly political magazine, asked me to write something mean about the Germans: Today’s question then, is: Does Germany’s record in international soccer confirm: (a) the absence of God, (b) the capriciousness of justice, or (c) the futility of romance? Or: (d) all of the above? Full piece here. Prieviously, in
The Henley by-election result is striking: John Howell (Cons) 19,796Stephen Kearney’s (Lib Dem) 9,680Mark Stevenson (Green) 1,321Timothy Rait (BNP) 1,243Richard McKenzie (Lab) 1,066Chris Adams (UKIP) 843 Admittedly, Labour didn’t run much of a campaign (and would like to have avoided even contesting the seat if they’d been able to) while the Lib Dems pressed them
Julian “heterodox and hard to label” Sanchez (David Brooks, today) asks a terrifying question. Looking back to undergraduate debating days, he wonders: How many of us are unwittingly broadcasting our membership in that weird fraternity?
David Frum has an interesting piece in this month’s Prospect on the lessons Barack Obama (or, I suppose, John McCain, will learn from the structural short-comings of George W Bush’s White House organisation. Frum makes the useful point, often overlooked these days, that though Bush was inexperienced in traditional political terms, he was well-versed in
Responding to a reader’s suggestion that pop music became terrible once folk could just download (legally or not) any music they desired, Megan McArdle sensibly disputes the premise, writing: I’m not sure that musical talent is eroding so much as being dispersed. The rise of cheap distribution means there are more genres and sub-genres than