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George Galloway, with characteristic modesty, has declared his Bradford West by-election victory the most sensational in British history. Historian John Curtice begs to differ, noting a number of more remarkable by-election results. But even Curtice missed another by-election that outclasses Galloway’s result. The week before last was the 50th anniversary of Eric Lubbock’s stunning win [...]
Archive for the ‘Britain’ Category
March 31st, 2012
Like a myriad of prior college students, when my friends and I first came to London we took pictures of ourselves standing in the phone booth that David Bowie made famous (We also did the obligatory “walking across the Abbey Road” photo. We were one person short but it didn’t matter; we just chose our [...]
March 28th, 2012
The benefits of aspirin in pills and vegetables.
March 26th, 2012
Category: Britain, MSM (mainstream media)
I have been puzzling over a difference between the news media in the U.K. and U.S. Having not come to a satisfactory answer in my own mind, I hereby throw the subject to the Internet hive mind for analysis and debate. News media outlets can be divided into two types. The first type has a [...]
March 26th, 2012
Category: Britain, Terrorism and its control
There is much to stare at in the beautifully restored King’s Cross/St Pancras Train and Underground Complex. Amongst the sights are tourists walking about forlornly while holding crumpled newspapers, food-stained napkins and the like. They search in vain: One of the lesser-known legacies of the IRA bombings is the lack of bins in many British [...]
March 24th, 2012
Category: Britain, Language and usage
From Hamlet, Scene IV HORATIO: Is it a custom? HAMLET: Ay, marry, is’t; But to my mind, though I am native here And to the manner born, it is a custom More honour’d in the breach than the observance. What does this closing line really mean? In the political and policy circles of my acquaintance, [...]
March 20th, 2012
Category: Britain, Psychology
I have ridden in London cabs countless times, but yesterday I had an unprecedented experience. I clambered into a black taxi and told the driver my address. After some blocks he asked, off-handedly, “What is the postcode there, guv?”. Puzzled by the question, I nonetheless told him the answer. I then furtively leaned forward to [...]
March 13th, 2012
Category: Britain, Literature
At loose ends for an hour in a splendid London library, I collapsed into an overstuffed leather chair and pulled the 1927 edition of Revolt in the Desert from a nearby shelf. This edition included a publisher’s note describing the exchanges between the copy editor and Lawrence of Arabia. My favorite concerned Meleager of Gadara. [...]
March 5th, 2012
Our learned commentators had an interesting exchange about John Buchan (ennobled as Lord Tweedsmuir) following my recommendation of the movie The 39 Steps. This inspired me to visit the recollections so well-assembled in Pilgrim’s Way. In the course of his very productive life, Lord Tweedsmuir found time to serve for a period in Parliament. His [...]
March 2nd, 2012
Category: Britain, California Politics, Education policy, Policy briefs, Uncategorized, University of California
Years and years ago, David Mundel used to provoke my interest in public policy as an object of analysis (rather than an occasion to opine) by suggesting out-of-the-box things like: the way to deal with affirmative action and discrimination in college admissions is to require colleges to admit by lottery and have done with it. [...]