The Hermaphrodite vs the Half-Breed
The past is another country; they did negativity better there. Behold, the Election of 1800: Bravo, Reason, bravo. Next assignment: one of Aaron Burr’s negative ads, please.
Alex Massie
Alex Massie is Scotland Editor of The Spectator.
Friday
Israel Notes: The Price of Gilad Shalit
Gilad Shalit’s mother, speaking earlier this summer at a rally demanding his release. At dinner in Tel Aviv last week discussion turned to the strange, awful case of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured and held prisoner by Hamas for the past four years. The rumour was that Israel was prepared to offer an extraordinary
Dimbleby Fail
I didn’t watch Question Time last night, but there seems to be some stushie over David Dimbleby’s refusal to allow Nicola Sturgeon to talk about fiscal autonomy. “This is for a UK audience!” squawked our host, shutting down any discussion of a matter that, whatever he may believe (if he knows anything about the subject)
Thursday
Let Us Now Praise…Conrad Black
As a general rule, newspapers are owned by ogres. As with the Presidency of the United States, desiring the office or, in this instance, the title, should be considered enough to disqualify anyone from consideration. Nevertheless, it matters what kind of ogre it is. There’s a chasm between a Richard Desmond (Express) or a Sam
Palin and the Presidency Cont
Sure, Pete, Palin says she will run for the Presidency “if there’s nobody else to do it.” But you know what: there are other people to do it! She’ll run anyway. Then she’ll lose (probably!) and perhaps she won’t sell as many magazines or drive as much blog traffic as she does now. As for
Great Moments in Analysis: Argentine Edition
I don’t really have anything to say about the death of Nestor Kirchner and nor, it seems, do the analysts consulted by the New York Times: His death could either bolster or hurt Mrs. Kirchner’s political prospects, analysts said. Well that clears that up. On the one hand this is typical of the he-said, she-said
Labour’s Augustinian Approach to Welfare Reform
Sometimes you wonder why government ministers ever speak to journalists. Exhibit A: the fool who told Ben Brogan that the coalition’s changes to Housing Benefit amount to a modern version of “the Highland Clearances*”. Sure enough, Jon Cruddas picks up on this in the New Statesman this week. Reading Cruddas you’d think that capping rent
A New, Improved, Poorer Ireland!
Writing at Big Questions Online Brian Kaller, an American now living in Kildare, claims that Ireland and the Irish are better-placed to survive the Age of Austerity than their American cousins. Though he’s careful to acknowledge that the boom years swept away much that was rotten and repressive in Ireland the piece ends up as
Hello Again
The Judean Desert, above Jericho. So, Israel was interesting. Lots more on that in the coming days. Not the least pleasure of spending a week abroad was missing George Osborne’s Spending Review and, indeed, barely keeping up with the news at all. I won’t claim that tootling around Israel and the West Bank produced any
Sunday
Housekeeping | 17 October 2010
Yarrow. Things could be pretty quiet around here these next few days. This week, I’m visiting Israel (for the first time) and while there may be Holy Land blogging there may not be too much of it. I’m looking forward to it and though the trip is being organised by the good and kind people
Sunday Morning Country: Steve Earle
He’s been back with us for a while now after his troubles, but it’s still worth cherishing Steve Earle. And he should also be honoured for his work spreading the good word about Townes. Here he is with TVZ’s most famous song:
Friday
The Long Arm of the Global Financial Crisis
It reaches everywhere. This from a guy just released having serving two years for armed robbery: I joked to my cell mate on the first day that at least the GFC [Global Financial Crisis,] couldn’t fuck us inside. He’d been done for assaulting a cop when his house got taken by the bank. But within
Thursday
Sarah Palin’s Hubris: Thatcher Edition
Good grief, Sarah Palin is a piece of work: A very happy birthday to Baroness Thatcher! There are so many lessons we can learn from her excellent example. She once said, “If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and
Wednesday
Campaign Ad of the Week: Puppy Slaying Edition
I don’t much care who wins the Illinois gubernatorial election and agree with Nick Gillespie that we need more ads like this: Politifact scores the ad “half-true” which, actually, means I’d be happy to see Brady lose even though he’s dropped his sponsorship of the bill and the issue is, anyway, “moot”.Relatedly: Mitt Romney’s record
Peter Cook on Mining
Busy elsewhere this afternoon but since miners are all the rage today, here’s Peter Cook on mining: [Thanks to DAG]
The 33
No doubting the feel-good story of the year: the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners trapped 2000 feet beneath the surface for 69 days. Extraordinary scenes this morning as the first miner, Florencio Avalos, was safely winched to fresh air and his waiting family. It has been an epic of endurance, perseverence, courage, hope
The Strange Case of Woodrow Wilson
Contra Jill Lepore in the New York Times, you don’t need to watch Glenn Beck to dislike Woodrow Wilson. Nor do you need think there’s any connection between one “professor-President” and the chap currently occupying the Oval Office. Radley Balko lays out the standard libertarian case against Wilson here and, frankly, it makes a pretty
Families Against National Debt
Actually, it seems to be just one family right now. But perhaps others will join? Anyway FAND asks a good question: Servicing the national debt is costing the average worker – not a graduate – £27.69 a week. Under [Lord] Browne’s plan [for reforming university funding], a graduate would have to earn £37k before repaying
The Big Society vs A Culture of Hopelessness
As we all know, Dave has had some problems defining his Big Society idea. It’s more conducive to thumb-sucking pieces than snazzy tabloid headlines. Sometimes, however, it might be easier to sell in terms of what it’s not. Consider this story, warning that there might be lots of snow this winter: Council chiefs have sparked
Sunday
More Mail Fail: Clegg Edition
Apparently the print edition of the Mail on Sunday screams “Hypocrisy” because Nick Clegg, though not a believer himself, is not averse to sending his eldest child to be educated at the (catholic) London Oratory. Like you, dearest reader, I look forward to the Mail opposing school choice. The online version of this nonsense does