From the Department of Why Didn’t I Think of That*: London to Sydney? Sure. London to Sydney by bus? Sign me up (cash and 12 weeks free time permitting, admittedly). What next? Tierra del Feugo to Alaska along the non-existent NAFTA superhighway? Cairo to the Cape? Well, why not? *Partly, you dolt, because you don’t
God knows how reliable this sort of sillyness really is (not very, probably) but: Students at many of the country’s most prestigious colleges and universities are graduating with less knowledge of American history, government, and economics than they had as incoming freshmen, with Harvard University seniors scoring a “D+” average on a 60-question multiple-choice exam
By which I mean to say that – surprise! – there’s evidence that the apocalyptic scenario beloved on the nutty right that Europe will be living – if such an elevated term can be applied to our miserable future – under Sharia law sooner than you can whistle up the call to prayer is, well,
Daniel Larison as already done yeoman work dismantling elements of David Gelernter’s appalling piece in The Weekly Standard. But more needs to be done and, that being the case, let’s have at it in this and a number of posts to follow. Gelertner’s piece, cheerily headlined “Defeat at Any Price” makes the case, natch, that
George W Bush invited some friendlies to the White House this afternoon for a friendly little chat. K-Lo was there to gush: Asked what traits people should look for in choosing a President, George Bush responded immediately: “Be comfortable with your family. Work hard to make sure there is love in the White House.” He
The anti-land mines brigade are claiming victory (of a sort). The NYT’s The Lede is too charitable by far: No one gets into arms control for the glamor and the primetime awards shows, but the International Campaign to Ban Landmines just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate their 10th anniversary punctuated with a pragmatic
President George W Bush has just finished his post-Petraeus address to the nation. Yet again he reported that progress was being made in Iraq – far from the headlines of course – and that this could be measured by the fact that, yes, schools are being rebuilt. Given the frequency with which this nugget of
George W Bush’s speech on Iraq and Petraeus and all the rest of it yesterday had a pretty simple message. Hold tight. Stay patient. Endure. Something extraordinary will turn up. Since the President’s transformation into Mr Micawber seems complete, this passage from David Copperfield seems somewhat troublesomely apposite. If Mr Bush is Mr Micawber; then
Gordon’s just a regular bloke, don’t you know. Not like poor old Phoney Tony. That, at least, would seem to be the message of Saatchi & Saatchi’s first advert for Labour: But if we’re talking about Flash Gordon, then, really, a more appropriate slogan would be Kala’s threat: “We’re going to empty your memory as
Neil Harvey-Smith, gingerly returning to blogging after time in the Canadian wilderness, observes the latest example of Gordon Brown’s cynicism. Today’s message: he admires Margaret Thatcher very much. Yesterday’s message: her “doctrinaire prejudice” failed Britain. That’s not, incidentally, a view from 1983 but from a 1989 book he published titled, Where There Is Greed; Margaret
No words required, mes amis. Peter Martin’s commentary for Radio Clyde is almost as good as the goal itself.
Matt Yglesias sees Fred Thompson jump into a tie with Rudy Giuliani, despite having next to nothing to offer the country beyond shop-soiled platitudes and observes: All-in-all I continue to find it surprising that the press seems more interested in the Democratic primary (and I’ve heard conservatives complain about this, so I’m not making a
On, the other hand TNR’s John Judis wins the prize for being the first (I think) to speculate upon the likelihood of us all actually being able to enjoy the delicious pleasure of a brokered convention: With former Senator Fred Thompson’s entry into the presidential race, the Republicans now have at least three candidates who
Two questions: oh god, will it never end? And, how can winning be more fraught with terror than losing? I write, as you will have guessed, of Scottish football. Today’s remarkable, nay logic-defying, triumph in Paris – our first on French soil in, oh, 57 years – was unbearable stuff. I can cope with despair;
Chris Orr wonders why Fred Thompson’s work – albeit just a handful of hours – on behalf of the Libyans accused of the Lockerbie bombing is not receiving more attention. Fred Thompson, Terrorist Lawyer! Well, OK. Thompson says his opinion was sought on the venue question, leading Chris to say: Thompson’s mention of “venue” issues,
Via Prospect’s blog, here’s Matin Amis: “…my principal objection to the numbers [”9/11″] is that they are numbers. The solecism, that is to say, is not grammatical but moral-aesthetic—an offence against decorum; and decorum means “seemliness”, which comes from soemr, “fitting”, and soema, “to honour”. 9/11, 7/7: who or what decided that particular acts of
Steve Chapman hears Joe Biden ask a decent question: At each of his four stops today, there was a moment when he got the attention of his audience. It came when he noted, ruefully, that he’s often mentioned as a possible secretary of state in a Democratic administration. “I have a rhetorical question for you,”
Era Klein flags up this decade-old James Fallowes piece as his “paragraph of the day”. Fallowes is addressing the vexed, nay controversial subject of why some people – especially women! – throw “like a girl”: If you are right-handed, pick up a ball with your left hand and throw it. Unless you are ambidextrous or
Opera Chic has all you need to know about Luciano Pavarotti’s death, including a collection of terrific YouTube clips. If only the Washington National Opera’s forthcoming Boheme could feature a voice such as this… But, of course, the point is that it can’t.
There was plenty to enjoy at last night’s GOP debate in New Hampshire. From Rudy Giuliani’s incessant and somewhat vulgar determination to relate any question on any subject to his time running New York City to John McCain’s mild recovery (though he should be worried that other candidates were being nice to him; clearly they