God bless German ingenuity
Next time you’re stuck on a mountain…
Alex Massie
Tuesday
Department of Labelling
Ezra Klein writes: Sources tell me that the Bush administration has stopped using the term “protectionist” because they found it polls really well. Instead, skeptics will now be termed “economic isolationists,” so as to better smear them as people who would’ve lost World War II. But how can it be a smear if it’s, well,
Monday
It has to be Obama, right?
I don’t trust the St Barack stuff either, but there’s no point in doubting that Obama has something his rivals don’t. There’s a clarity that comes to the Democratic race when one views it from a distance (in this instance, the best part of 4,000 miles). Yes Obama is inexperienced, yes a good deal of
The Kennedy Endorsement
Teddy Kennedy endorses Barack Obama and, predictably, it’s all kicked off. I’m sure Kennedy gave a fine speech. But as Isaac Chotiner observes: you should tune into the cable networks, all of which are implying that today’s endorsement ranks somewhere between the moon landing and global warming in terms of planetary importance. And this, of
Adam Gilchrist
So farewell, Adam Gilchrist. Norm marks his retirement with all the right links: You may not know him from Adam, but I have to mark the retirement from Test cricket of one of the greats of the game. In the Adelaide Test, just concluded, he passed Mark Boucher to go to the top of the
Sunday
Some people’s votes are worth more than other people’s…
Barack Obama wins big in South Carolina. But here’s what National Review’s David Freddoso has to say: He was clobbered with white men and white women. He came in third among both groups. Obama showed in Iowa and New Hampshire that he can win white votes. But the exit polls suggest that this victory in
Does the Republican party deserve to be saved?
Thanks to John-Paul Pagano for ensuring I didn’t miss this while on hiatus. In an illuminating passage National Review’s Kathryn-Jean Lopez reveals the reasons why John McCain cannot be considered a conservative: I’m second to none in praising him on his surge leadership. But on a whole host of issues — including water boarding, tax
How much spit is the Vice-Presidency worth these days?
Would John Edwards want the Vice-Presidency in return for playing kingmaker in the Democratic primaries? Perhaps not. After all George HW Bush is the only sitting 20th century Veep to have reached the top job absent assassination, death by natural causes* or the boss being forced from office (Nixon of course was defeated in 1960,
The Symbolism of Sarko?
An entry for Pseud’s Corner. Adam Gopnik on Sarko’s romance with Carla Bruni: It is possible to imagine that Sarkozy is not simply a man governed by his impulses and appetites but one trying to use a situation to make a strategic point. In the past, all French politicians were involved in an organized hypocrisy,
Saturday
The Executive Problem
In its way, this anecdote – culled from AN Wilson’s touching eulogy for the great Hugh Massingberd is a very telling illustration of how, regardless of technological changes, newspapers have got themselves into such a mess: Part of the secret of Hugh’s overwhelming charm was in his vulnerability. He played up the moments when he
Alex Massie
Among the many pleasures of The Spectator – greatly improved under Matthew D’Ancona’s watch – few are greater than Charles Moore’s weekly column. Having edited the Speccie himself Mr Moore knows how to write a notebook-style column. Ranging over acres and acres of ground – an archive of the column is here – it’s classic
Reihan Salam is in excellent form
Barack Obama: still not a muslim. No word, as far as I can tell, from Hillary Clinton explicitly condemning the Obama-is-a-muslim-which-means-he-wants-to-destroy-America whispering campaign… Reihan, again, puts it most splendidly: I was wondering. What do you think would happen if Islamist radicals were a more important constituency in Democratic primaries than voters who instinctively distrust anyone
Your favourite novelists?
I mentioned Norm’s latest poll in which he asks: you to send in the list of your favourite English-language novelists. Note that I ask for your favourites and not for those whom you consider to be the greatest (should the first group not coincide with the second). My selections, in no particular order: PG WodehouseRL
Obama and Omar
One of the penalties of a three week blogging hiatus is that one misses stuff. For instance, I hadn’t realised Barack Obama’s favourite TV show was The Wire. The Las Vegas Sun reported: Michael Kostroff, an actor who was in town to volunteer for Obama and had a chance to meet him, told the Sun
Friday
Blair and Brown Part II: This time It’s Continental
Great stuff from William Hague in the Commons as he imagines the terror of Tony Blair, President of Europe. American Anglophiles will also like it, since Hague’s ability at the Dispatch Box trumps anything the United States Congress can offer. [Thanks to the ever-redoubtable Mr Eugenides. As th eGreek says, David Miliband’s genuine and unforced
Clinton Derangement: 43rd St Edition
Reihan Salam, in characteristically excellent form, dismantles the New York Times’ lazy and baffling endorsement* of Hillary Clinton and, as a bonus, comes up with the best line I’ve read today: Clinton must sorely regret that she can’t use proxies to pointedly accuse Obama of fathering a black child — because, after all, he has
Madison Avenue, we have a problem. Can you help?
There are those people – mainly on the right – who don’t think it a problem that, for one reason or another, the United States has an image problem overseas. Of course one may disapprove of American policy – or merely the manner in which it has been implemented – while remaining enamoured of the
The lies we tell ourselves
This is a depressing paragraph: William Wallace was a failure who only won one key battle; Robert the Bruce was a usurper struggling to retain power; Scotland was a willing entrant into the Act of Union. Such claims will infuriate nationalists and unionists alike when the BBC seeks to explode myths in Scottish history in
Thursday
Aged 10, I hated Don Bradman…
Don’t get too excited. Blogging hiatus may not be entirely done with… Apart from anything else, finding more than 2,500 items on one’s RSS feed is enough to weary any sensible fellow. Also, I’ve been struck down with flu (cure: hot whisky and lots of Wodehouse, especially the Blandings Castle novels). Anyway, this, from the
Books you like; not merely books you use to show off…
Norm wants to know your top ten favourite English-language novelists. I ballsed my ballot up by forgetting to include William McIlvanney. No excuse for you not to do your bit however. Votes for this fellow – interest declared! – always permitted…