fieldus

Johann Hari: It’s the policies that count and that means Londoners should vote for Ken Livingstone - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent
Ken Livingstone with his adenoidal, amphibian populism is the most successful left-wing politician in Europe today. Born into the white working class in the rubble of post-war London, he [...]

Some commnetary from Samuel Brittan in the FT on Gordon’s desire to boost this tired Labour government’s rhetoric.He cites Pericles funeral oration as an exception to the rule - speechmaking that does make a difference.
FT.com / Columnists / Samuel Brittan - Please spare us this ‘vision thing’
It is time to come back to [...]

Interesting NY Times article via Scott Heiferman’s Notes. Hillary’s core constituency sounds remarkably like Hilter’s.
Can this be true?

Looking at the new English manager, I had an intuition along the lines of what Terence Blacker so elegantly details below:Terence Blacker: We just can’t face up to our Englishness - Independent Online Edition > Terence Blacker
The latest splash on the media cowshed floor concerns the appointment of an Italian Fabio Capello to [...]

Salon.com Books | Hipster rebel punk outsiders — 99 cents a dozen
Liberal humanism, at least in its popular incarnation, has always insisted that while the human body is imprisoned by circumstance, the soul always remains free. Niedzviecki draws heavily on Foucault’s famous assertion that the reverse is actually true: Every human being possesses at [...]

I thought it would be interesting to read what Anne Enright, recent winner of the Booker prize would have to say about the ‘Maddie’ phenomenon. As the writer of a dark, family tale, I thought she might have interesting things to say about it.
LRB | Anne Enright: Diary
The piece isn’t entirely without interest - her [...]

FACING THE ISMLAMIST MENACE. Strange bedfellows.http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_1_urbanities-steyn.html
Finally, I read the piece and I’m pleased to find that Hitchens isn’t as derisory as I feared. I read one of Mark Steyn’s pieces about the demographic threat posed to old Europe by the birthrate of its Islamic populations a while ago and it gave me the willies.
Hitchens recognises [...]

You couldn’t have made recent headlines up. Poor lib dems. First Charles Kennedy, then that gay rent boy habit, there’s Menzies Campbell generally, which has the unfortunate habit of giving the whole party the air of a nursing home, and now Lembit Opik, weak-chinned ‘wild-man’ of the Liberal Democrats, is dating one of the pair [...]

In today’s Guardian.
Something of interest to look at later.
Combined with Richard Branson’s attack over Sky’s move to block NTL’s bid for ITV, Rupert Murdoch is not having an easy time of it. Never let it be said that he didn’t have it coming.

This is what Tim Evans, BT group marketing and brand director, thinks they’re up to with this campaign.

“Adam is going to be the central character of all our consumer television ads from now on. Viewers will see him thrown through life’s highs and lows and watch how BT products and services can help him [...]