The always-excellent Arthur Goldhammer on Nicolas Sarkozy’s latest appearance: Sarkozy had another one of his marathon chats with les tribunes du peuple, or what passes for such in the media age: telejournalists. It was an odd performance. The Élysée doesn’t really suit its current incumbent. Its rococo excess makes a strange contrast with his blunt
Yesterday the Washington Post published a page 1 story headlined: Foes Use Obama’s Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him I don’t think this was necessarily a reprehensible piece, even if it should have debunked this nonsense more prominently than it did. Any discussion of these smears – not that there should be anything wrong
An interesting but worthless column from Jackie Ashley. “It won’t be easy for Gordon Brown to dig himself out of the hole he has fallen into in recent weeks. But a broad back, an ability to say sorry, a coolness under fire and an unwillingness to dump on colleagues would certainly help.” Worthless, I say,
Cricket Housekeeping: 1. Since this post making the case that Shane Warne is, indisputably, a greater cricketer than Muttiah Muralitharan it’s only fair to note that Murali had the chance to show that he can win matches in Australia as well as Sri Lanka. Granted, the tests were played at Brisbane and Hobart rather than
James Fallows has a splendid snapshot (ha!) of the differences between Japan and China: With usual caveats against sweeping generalization, what this made me think was: Japan is all about the way of doing things. Practice, ritual, perfectionism, as much fanatical attention to the process as to the result. China is all about finding a
Yeah, so Megan can’t find New York style pizza in Washington. Well, I can’t find Scottish pizza here either. I forgot to ask earlier if any readers know of anywhere on the eastern seaboard that does a good, proper deep-fried pizza*? *Photos from a fine chippie I used to frequent regularly: Piccante on Broughton Street
Mercy me. Mark Halperin makes a lateish run for Most Incriminating Column of the Year with this entry, published in today’s New York Times in which he laments how terrible it is that the media have confused campaign froth with the stuff that might actually indicate whether or not a politician is capable of performing
Andy Ferguson’s article on the ghastliness of presidential campaign books isn’t quite vintage Ferguson. for one thing he ignores the awkward fact that by all accounts Barack Obama did actually write his own book, something which is far from the worst reason for supporting him. Still, Ferguson’s account of Mitt Romney’s Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and
This is the sort of thing that reminds me why I enjoy The Economist‘s under-appreciated sense of humour: George Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are both deeply religious, referring frequently to God’s guiding hand. Both are idealists rather than pragmatists, and skilled at folksy populism. Both have replaced dozens of competent officials with like-minded conservatives. And
As any newcomer to DC must, Megan McArdle bemoans the relative lack of decent pizza in Washington: To a lifelong New Yorker, there is no other sort of pizza than the large, thin, New York slice. We may disagree amongst ourselves about the theological details–crispy or floppy, thick border or thin, sweet sauce or spicy,
Melanie Philips, I’m afraid, continues to show signs of becoming Britain’s answer to David Horowitz. Her latest salvo culminates in this absurdity: Annapolis is America’s Munich — and Israel is the new Czechoslovakia. Previously Philips, unsurprisingly, lamented John Howard’s defeat in Australia. For myself, I rather think that 12 years in office is long enough
Kieran Healy wants to know how Newsweek can think a line can be fine and blurry: Growing Up Giuliani: Rudy Giuliani was raised to understand that fine, blurry line between saint and sinner. The making of his moral code. I want to know how the line between saint and sinner can be fine or blurry.
Isaac Chotiner links to Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch’s splendid piece on libertarianism and calls it pretty absurd: I have no idea what most citizens think about smoking bans and online gambling restrictions. But I do believe they are smart enough to know that these issues neither matter much, nor are worth voting on. Well,
Look, one of the charming aspects of Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign is its amateur nature. By which I mean, of course, the puppyish and extrovert enthusiasm of his supporters. Which other candidate’s peeps, for instance, would decide that what their campaign lacks is a blimp? Well, one intrepid band of Paulistas wants to raise the
My friend James Forsyth picks up on another of my favoured non-trivial campaign trivia questions*: Barack Obama got the question about who he would invite to his ideal dinner party from a newspaper in New Hampshire. The guest list of Jesus, Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln was revealing about how he sees himself. First, it is
Not to intrude into private grief or anything, but how can you children not be amused by this? Croatia rose to the occasion in their crucial Euro 2008 defeat of England – after an apparent X-rated gaffe by an English opera singer at Wembley. Tony Henry belted out a version of the Croat anthem before
Happy Thanksgiving, people. It’s a testament to the enduring optimism – and essential good-nature – of the American people that they should schedule (or have scheduled for them) two family holidays within a month of one another. Thanksgiving wounds barely have time to scab before the Christmas blood-letting is upon us…
Via Garance, here is by far and away the best advertisement of this interminable presidential election campaign: UPDATE: Daniel Larison makes the good point that Huckabee’s two word plan for securing the border (“Chuck Norris”) is an admission that Huckabee doesn’t really have a border policy at all (or at least not one likely to
Probably the strongest experience I have in foreign relations is the fact that I spent four years living overseas when I was a child in southeast Asia. ~Barack Obama I forgot this is supposed to be reassuring and make us want Obama to be President. I’ve been reading The Economist since I was 10–do I
‘Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led, Welcome tae your gory bed, Or tae Victorie! ‘Now’s the day, and now’s the hour: See the front o’ battle lour… Scotland vs Italy, Hampden Park, 1200 (EST), 17/11/07. Game on. UPDATE for DC readers: The Lucky Bar on Connecticut Avenue and N
