The sad story of an innocent Canadian magazine colliding with the internet’s collectively filthy mindA sad day in the proud tradition of Canadian publishing: the country’s second-oldest magazine has been forced to change its name because of the internet. As of April, the venerable Beaver magazine will be renamed Canada’s History.The first question that springs [...]
For an hour on live television, Obama danced around the Republicans, landing blows and coming out ahead on pointsWhen the Republicans invited President Obama to address their congressional House delegation in Baltimore today, they had no idea how badly it would turn out for them.Presumably the Republicans thought they’d get a high-profile chance to grill [...]
The US media largely ignores Tony Blair’s evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, because Americans have lost interest in IraqSince the Chilcot inquiry discussed details of President Bush’s thinking before the invasion of Iraq, you might assume that Tony Blair’s appearance today would get wide coverage in the US media. But no.There has been some coverage, [...]
Once again, the theory that cable news television coarsens the US public sphere is roundly disprovedWhere would America be without cable television news, the rock of the pure Jeffersonian ideal of democracy on which this great nation is founded?Here we have two sages engaging in a Socratic dialogue. On the left is Dr David Schuster [...]
It’s time for Barack Obama to fire Timothy Geithner and hire a Treasury secretary who can sell his economic policiesWhen President Obama entered the chamber at the start of last night’s state of the union address, he made a beeline for Timothy Geithner and gave him a hug. The Treasury secretary looked like he needed [...]
A mix-up by the Texas state board of education bans one of America’s most beloved childrens’ booksWalk into just about any US bookstore or library and you’ll find a copy of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See. It was first published in 1967, and illustrated by Eric Carle – who also gave us [...]
The White House has released the first extracts from President Obama’s state of the union address to CongressThe White House has just sent out the first set of extracts from President Obama’s speech tonight – so this presumably is what it wants the focus to be on…Part oneWe face big and difficult challenges. And what [...]
John and Elizabeth Edwards now legally separated, according to US network reportsA sad story reaches its perhaps inevitable conclusion: the US networks are reporting that Elizabeth Edwards and John Edwards are now legally separated. ABC News says:As a torrent of fresh details from the scandal cascaded into the media today, a source close to Elizabeth [...]
Downbeat and smallbore – that’s what the pundits are expecting from Obama’s state of the union address tonightThe eyes of a nervous, impatient world will turn towards America this evening, as a powerful leader prepares to outline his vision for a new era. That will be Steve Jobs launching Apple’s latest iGadget. And in other [...]