Via Marc Ambinder, this graph is not, shall we say, good news for the Republican party’s long-term prospects. Sure, some of these young voters will likely drift to the right in years to come, but most people tend to fix their party identification early and hold on to it doggedly. And of course young voters
Matt Yglesias is absolutely right: The newspaper, as an institution, is an odd one — an enormous bundle of disparate kinds of content whose rationale for existing has to do with the economics of printing and distributing cheap paper and ink on a daily basis. In an online world, the economics are different and argue
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the pundit seeking heft to support his argument must eventually turn to George Orwell. This is, for sure, often a wise decision since much the most remarkable aspect of Orwell’s writing is how much of it remains vivid and even valid today. But not all of it since
Mike Crowley highlights Hillary Clinton’s changing style: April, 1993: “We need a new politics of meaning. We need a new ethos of individual responsibility and caring. We need a new definition of civil society which answers the unanswerable questions posed by both the market forces and the governmental ones, as to how
Saturday Entertainment: the London mayoral candidates’ Newsnight debate synched to, of all things, Rainbow. It all makes more sense now… Hat-tip: Iain Martin
Sometimes the news isn’t terrible: A doctor caught with 14 ecstasy tablets at a music festival has been allowed to keep his licence to practise. A General Medical Council panel told Dr Fraser Gibb they were satisfied he only used drugs to enhance his life and not to “prop it up”. However, it found him
Um, whatever happened to PJ O’Rourke? Once upon a time he was funny, even deliciously so. Of course it’s harder for a humourist to shine when his side is in power and O’Rourke’s jaded sardonicism is a style especially ill-suited to team-play. Perhaps that explains his sadly drab, unconvincing piece in the latest issue of
On the other hand, PJ O’Rourke isn’t the only one to have lost it. Consider, for instance, Maureen Dowd’s latest column: Is he [Obama]skittish around her [Clinton] because he knows that she detests him and he’s used to charming everyone? Or does he feel guilty that he cut in line ahead of her? As the
Argentina is one of my favourite countries, so it’s especially pleasing to note that, for once, there’s some happy news from that melancholy land. Cato’s Juan Carlos Hidalgo reports that a federal court has decriminalised the consumption of drugs. According to this account (in Spanish) the court ruled that arresting young people for possessing marijuana
Actually, in the circumstances Gordon Brown may have done about as well as he could have at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday. But still, as this edited footage demonstrates, Brown was received a vicious flogging from David Cameron (start from the 2 minute mark):
Congratulations to Joe Bavier, a Reuters correspondent in the Congo. You could work years in this trade and never get to tap out an intro like this: KINSHASA (Reuters) – Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men’s penises after a wave of panic and
I’m actually watching the Washington Capitals-Philadelphia Flyers ice hockey game* (hurrah for NASN!) but this Marc Ambinder post on the Pennsylvania primary was enough to raise an eyebrow: High Turnout Officials project a turnout of between 52% and 55% of the Democratic primary electorate; turnout is especially high in Philadelphia; Hmmm. That’s a high turnout?
Happy St George’s day, English readers. To mark the occasion, the Telegraph offers us Simon Heffer, the would-be John Wilkes of our times, to declare the Union “as good as over”. And this, according to Heffer, is a fine thing since it ensures that England can finally be free from Tartan oppression. Apparently there’s been
Matt Yglesias writes: For such a nice country, Italy’s politics seem weirdly screwed up. There’s the famous instability of the governments, of course. And then there’s the fact that their main right-of-center party is led by the legendarily corrupt Silvio Berlusconi. And then there’s the fact that despite the broadly discreditable nature of Berlusconi, the
From James Joyner: News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch says that NATO is in a “crisis of confidence” because Western Europe is “losing its faith in the values and institutions that have kept us free.” He calls for a radical redefinition of the Alliance in order to save it, including extending membership to Australia, Japan, and
After Armstrong, Benaud, Constantine, Dexter, Edrich, Fry and Gower it is clearly time for Len Hutton’s lads to take the field. This, I submit, is a pretty strong ‘H’ XI. It would have been posted three days ago had I not been paralysed by indecision brought on by the difficulty of selecting the man to
In honour of the nicest day of the year so far: I wander’d lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o’er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. This afternoon, at home. Though since we’re at the foot
I see that heaps of folks are having fun with this sign, recently displayed at a pro-Tibet rally in San Francisco: It is possible of course, that our friend here doesn’t know that the 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin*. But isn’t it also possible that our friendly demonstrator is actually asking an excellent question:
Filmmaker Andrew Filippone Jr imagines a pseudo-Beckettian edition of The Charlie Rose Show:
Er, I’m the subject of this week’s Normblog profile. It’s here.