BLOGS
The Case for Jim Webb
I mentioned some of the factors that make Jim Webb, the Democratic Senator from Virginia, a less than entirely compelling Vice-Presidential pick for Barack Obama, here. To recap: when he… Continue reading
8 CommentsAye Been? Up to a point…
From today’s edition of The Scotsman: AS A town steeped in its common riding* traditions, the Royal and Ancient Burgh of Selkirk has tended to concentrate on reliving its past.… Continue reading
0 CommentsDepartment of Charming Understatement
James Forsyth looks at Northern Rock’s annual report and finds that its opening line is: "2007 was a difficult and challenging year for Northern Rock" Indeed so. I do hope… Continue reading
0 CommentsCarmen May Seriously Damage Your Health…
Anthony Holden in The Observer: Carmen is back at Covent Garden for the first time since last summer’s Orwellian smoking ban and I’m delighted to report that the Royal Opera… Continue reading
0 CommentsDepartment of self-promotion
You want to know more about the state of the sports memorabilia market? Of course you do. From my piece in this week’s Spectator: As was so often the case,… Continue reading
0 CommentsIt’s not the books, it’s you…
God forgive me, but I do enjoy tales of woe from the Manhattan dating scene. The latest dispatch from the front lines comes courtesy of Rachel Donadio in today’s New… Continue reading
3 CommentsI am Wolfgang Schauble! I am Jacqui Smith!
Ha! Those canny Germans! they published the fingerprint of German Secretary of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble (link is to a Google translation of the German original). The club has been… Continue reading
0 CommentsEdrich’s XI
So here we are again. After Armstrong, Benaud, Constantine and Dexter we come to John Edrich’s XI. 1. John Edrich (ENG) (Capt)2. Matthew Elliott (AUS)3. Bill Edrich (ENG)4. George Emmett… Continue reading
4 CommentsDepartment of Incentives*
This time in poor Colombia: Funded in part by the Bush administration, a six-year military offensive has helped the government here wrest back territory once controlled by guerrillas and kill… Continue reading
0 CommentsThought for the Day
Courtesy of Charles Moore in this week’s Spectator: Reviewing Stephen Robinson’s new biography of Bill Deedes in these pages last week, Peregrine Worsthorne was fierce against his old colleague. Worsthorne… Continue reading
0 CommentsDepartment of Trying Too Hard
Travis Daub at Foreign Policy: A couple weeks back, we pointed out that John McCain likes to refer to America as "She," a habit that I… Continue reading
1 CommentThe Small, Quiet Tragedy of Hillary Clinton
Fine Peggy Noonan column today: Many in the press get it, to their dismay, and it makes them uncomfortable, for it sours life to have a person whose character you… Continue reading
1 CommentSir Walter’s Gorgie Boys
John J Miller at The Corner: I’ve always had some fondness for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens because their team name is a literary reference. Last weekend, while visiting the in-laws… Continue reading
1 CommentQuestion of the Day
From Stephen Pollard, interrupting his holiday to enjoy the chaos at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5: Does anything work in Britain? Ever? Well, does it?
4 CommentsDepartment of Sports Journalism
If Furman Bisher (great name!) is typical of the sports staff at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution then, you know, newspapers probably do deserve to die. Baseball used to be a game… Continue reading
1 CommentCricket and Baseball II
Ross responds to my gentle tweaking about baseball and cricket here. He makes some fair points. But thinking about it just now, it occurs to me that there’s another major… Continue reading
4 CommentsThere’s plenty of doom and gloom in Eric Alterman’s appraisal of the state of the American newspaper industry but not, for better or worse, much to disagree with. The relevance… Continue reading
0 CommentsHillary of Belfast (Again)
Gosh, from this remarkable exchange with Jamie Rubin you could almost be forgiven for thinking that Hillary Clinton had more to do with the Northern Irish "peace process" than, hmmm,… Continue reading
1 CommentNurse Bloomberg for Washington?
Add this to the reasons to be skeptical of Barack Obama… Vice-President Bloomberg*? I want to thank Mayor Bloomberg for his extraordinary leadership. At a time when Washington is divided… Continue reading
0 CommentsCraven Research Can’t Possibly Harm Your Throat
It’s entirely possible that the research cited in this New York Times story has been corrupted by the fact that it seems to have been sponsored, in part or at… Continue reading
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