[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog] 

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

'We must stay the course of reform and avoid any loss of momentum, which could undermine the turnaround in confidence that is underway, delaying the needed upswing in growth and job creation.' [My emphasis]

In so many words Olli Rehn--European Commissioner fo… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog] 

The British Labour Party is approaching a natural, if in any case farcical point in its 30-year turn to the right. Impelled towards the liberal-left on largely symbolic social matters in a vain effort to stake a claim to progressivism, the party remains… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

When I finally board my flight from London to Los Angeles later this month, I’ll have completed a decade-long journey of sorts. I’ve spent the better part of the last 10 years ensconced in Europe, after a 3-4-year long stint in New England, routin… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]   

Question Time took place in Glasgow this week, and for the second time this year I find myself blogging about—you got it—Scottish independence. I promise not to make this a habit, dear reader. And my apologies for this quick/… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]  

 Black History Month is a relatively novel addition to the British calendar. The first celebrations took place in London in 1987, a good 60 years after its first iteration in the United States. That separation in time is ma… Read full post »

I’ve often found it counterproductive to wade into discussions about acts of mass violence, such as the events in Aurora, Colorado, because, frankly (to use a clichéd, if horribly appropriate turn of phrase) I’ve seen this film before. As The Onion acidly noted, in an article title… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

Last night’s Question Time on BBC2 took place in Inverness, Scotland. As with most Question Time panels north of the border, the issue of independence reared its head yet again. Regrettably, the debate left much to be desired. The discussion turned

… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

The results of the Greek election on 6 May 2012 proved more confusing than most observers expected. The two previously dominant, centrist, pro-European parties—New Democrats (ND) and PASOK—received a slightly smaller share of the vote (32%) than pr… Read full post »

 [Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

Greece is to hold elections 6 May 2012, for the first time since the start of the Greek crisis—and in the midst of the most destructive austerity ever imposed on the Greek people. The ‘markets’ are apparently ‘unhappy’, sinc… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog] 

It was enough for her to say, at a certain moment: “Oh, if I only had some room, how I’d like to make some tagliatelle for you boys!” And in that moment we all thought of the space that her

… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

What is socialism in the 21st century? I owe it to myself one day to provide an answer to that question. As Owen Jones has argued over at his blog:

There are issues that the left must be at the forefront of championing: like equality for

… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

Sin necesidad de dramatizar, la más modesta objetividad era una apertura en absurdo de París, de la vida gregaria. Puesto que había pensado en los poetas era fácil acordarse de todos los que habían denunciado la soledad de

… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

Some late-night reflections on life and life’s choices by Tony Judt, just months before succumbing to Lou Gehrig’s disease:

I have never thought of myself as a rooted person. We are born by chance in one town rather than another and pass

… Read full post »

[Originally posted at my Wordpress blog]

He saw the lightning in the east and longed for the east,
but if it had flashed in the west he would have longed for the west.
My desire is for the lightning and its gleam, not for the places and the earth.

– Ibn

… Read full post »

[Originally posted on my Wordpess blog]

They journeyed when the darkness of night had let down her curtain; and I said to her: ‘Pity a passionate lover, outcast and distraught,
Whom desires eagerly encompass, and at whom speeding arrows are aimed wheresoever he bends his course.’

She displ

… Read full post »

For the uninitiated, this video needs some explaining. It’s the very end of the night at our house party, but that stops no-one ’round here. Joining in on Rebecca’s infamous-silly-times dance, Kyle, Courtney and JOE–all very inebriated–dance to Janelle Monáe’s … Read full post »

Some late-night reflections on life and life’s choices by Tony Judt, just months before succumbing to Lou Gehrig’s disease:

I have never thought of myself as a rooted person. We are born by chance in one town rather than another and pass through various temporary homes in the course of ou

… Read full post »

[Originally posted on my Wordpress blog]

'The recovery has finished, we are now contracting.’
– Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit (22 September 2011)

I’ve never liked Niall Ferguson. You see, Ferguson has always struck me as a stereotypical English academic–arrogant… Read full post »

[Originally posted on my Wordpress blog]

A talented graphic artist friend over at Accuracast came up with this neat little infographic for AlertMe. I wanted to post it here so you can all see some interesting facts about the average British household, which is currently facing an unprecedented incom… Read full post »

[Originally posted on my Wordpress blog]

ON DEBT REDUCTION: Ancient solutions to age-old problems
From the Financial Times’ letters section, 30 September 2011

Sir, History offers a useful guide to resolving the Greek sovereign debt crisis. As recently as 173BC, Livy tells us: “The Aetolian… Read full post »

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

-- Martin Luther King

 

Ignorance is a spectacular thing. My grandfather (predictably enough) used to say that it is the single-most dangerous thing of all. But I've/…

Read full post »

I have managed not to blog at all for so long, I've almost forgotten what counts as an actual blog post. And so it is here; this isn't a complete post, but rather an off-the-cuff response to a long-winded, and ultimately ridiculous, post by Sgt. Mom. on why Americans continue to… Read full post »

To past and future readers: Welcome.

I have been blogging for some years now—most recently here on Blogger and Open Salon. And though I haven always enjoyed the experience, I haven't always found the energy to keep constant blog posts coming.

This is an attempt to rectify… Read full post »