Articles
2010
The Culture War over the Ground Zero mosque. It’s hard to know who’s worse in the NYC mosque debate: the opportunistic, anti-Muslim right or the Muslim-loving, masses-fearing liberals. spiked, 17 August 2010.
This is a ‘digital deluge’, not the Pentagon Papers. Some are comparing Wikileaks’ 92,000 Afghan documents to the internal US study of Vietnam leaked in 1971. But the differences are striking. spiked, 2 August 2010.
Staging a mutiny in Rolling Stone magazine. General McChrystal’s anti-Obama blabbing to a hippie mag exposes the internal disarray of the US elite. spiked, 24 June 2010.
Obama: the Gulf between words and deeds. Instead of all the dithering, lofty rhetoric and tough talk, the US president should be honest about the need to keep on drilling. spiked, 17 June 2010.
Why Mrs Europe is bashing the bankers. Angela Merkel’s unilateral decision to ban "short selling" shows how deluded and divided the political class is. spiked, 24 May 2010.
Why Greece matters. The economic turmoil in southern Europe shows that, far from going away, the global financial crisis has entered a dangerous new phase. spiked, 17 May 2010.
The trouble with "anti-capitalism". ELECTION ESSAY: contemporary so-called "anti-capitalism" – which is underpinned by a powerful misanthropy – is the main barrier to progress today. spiked, 6 May 2010.
The Tea Party? Get over it already. In their discussion of the Tea Party as "delirious" and "unhinged", liberals like Bill Clinton are exposing their own snobbery. spiked, 30 April 2010.
The villain in a dumbed-down morality play. The SEC’s lawsuit against Goldman Sachs will only let politicians off the hook for the state of the economy. spiked, 21 April 2010.
This is not History with a capital H. The health reforms in the US are neither historic nor disastrous. They simply show what ‘Change’ means under Obama: tinkering on the edges. spiked, 22 March 2010.
"Jihad Jane" and the politics of fear. Far from "keeping America safe", the elite’s depiction of the US as fragile and at-risk makes even lonely weirdos seem like a deadly threat. spiked, 17 March 2010.
The real scandal is this obsession with scandal. As Republicans and Democrats squabble over who is most corrupt, the American people become more cynical about the entire political class. spiked, 9 March 2010.
Palin: if she didn’t exist, they’d have to invent her. It is the Democrats’ deep-seated disdain for the masses and the Republicans’ continued state of disarray that allows Sarah Palin to thrive. spiked, 11 February 2010.
Bashing the bankers is making Obama go blind. Obama’s plan to reform the big banks is rank political opportunism and will do little to address the underlying problems of the financial crisis. spiked, 25 January 2010.
What the ‘Mass mutiny’ shows about the Obama era. A win for a Republican unknown not only spoiled Obama’s one-year anniversary in office – it also exposed a deeper crisis of American politics. spiked, 21 January 2010.
2009
The spectacular discovery no one is talking about. One month ago, NASA made one of the most important discoveries of our lifetimes: water on the moon. Why aren’t we more excited about it? spiked, 18 December 2009.
A bizarre declaration of war-and-withdrawal. In sending an invading force of 30,000 and admitting the war is unwinnable, Obama’s Afghan policy is as dangerously unhinged as Bush’s was. spiked, 3 December 2009.
This isn’t a recovery. It’s an Obama Bubble. Just because the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently reached 10,000, that doesn’t mean the US economy is springing back to life. spiked, 22 October 2009.
This is not only the end of the Kennedy dynasty. Yes, Ted’s death represents the end of the line for ‘America’s royals’, but it also exposes the ideology-shaped hole in the Democratic Party. spiked, 1 September 2009.
America’s health wars. The backlash against Obama’s modest healthcare reforms is born from the fear of an uncertain future and a distrust of the political class. spiked, 17 August 2009.
Obama: the king of low expectations. Healthcare controversies, dumb comments about the arrest of a Harvard professor, and ‘frumpy jeans’: is Obama losing his Midas touch? spiked, 28 July 2009.
Government Motors is no substitute for General Motors. Yes, GM showed itself incapable of mass-producing decent cars and keeping people employed – but Obama’s intervention won’t turn things around. spiked, 9 June 2009.
No, the economic crisis is not good for America. When even Time hopes the downturn will teach ‘childish, irresponsible, fat’ Americans a lesson, it’s clear recession porn has gone mainstream. spiked, 31 March 2009.
It takes more than money to revive an economy. Why President Obama’s $787 billion recovery package won’t fire up the US economy — and might even make things worse in the long term. spiked, 18 Februrary 2009.
Standing up to the ‘sapping of confidence’. The speech was perceptive, but Obama won’t be able to ‘renew America’ until he can properly define its crises and enemies. spiked, 21 January 2009.
Yanking up the spending spree. Why the New York Yankees are being attacked for flashing the cash during a recession. spiked, 13 January 2009.
2008
Memo to Obama-crush liberals: he’s just not that into you. Now that he’s lined up a conservative cabinet, Obama’s supporters are in disbelief and denial. spiked, 9 December 2008.
The morning after History was made. Calls for ‘epochal Obama’ to get on with ‘ordinary politics’ show how small the political imagination remains. spiked, 6 November 2008.
Three cheers for the 140million voters. The election shot down the stereotype of Americans as thick and apathetic. spiked, 5 November 2008.
Why the crisis-rattled elite is banking on Obama. The endorsement of Obama by every liberal’s favourite Republican, Colin Powell, springs from disarray and desperation in DC circles. spiked, 20 October 2008.
Republican rallies: the myth of a crazed mob. The liberal media’s depiction of McCain supporters as a Weimar-like gang of rednecks shows their own fear of the white working class. spiked, 14 October 2008.
The whole presidential election is a sideshow. Many now look upon the Palin-Biden clash as a ‘sideshow’. In truth, this entire contest has become irrelevant to real-world events. spiked, 7 October 2008.
Challenging the politics of passivity. Whether lecturing parents or exaggerating security threats, both Obama and McCain see Americans as helpless victims. spiked, 16 September 2008.
The truth about the pitbull in lipstick. She’s neither evil incarnate nor the saviour of the Republicans, but an opportunist who plays the ‘hockey mom’ lifestyle card. spiked, 8 September 2008.
The American Promise: more personality politics. Obama and McCain have remodelled themselves, and yet both remain hindered by low horizons and identity politics. spiked, 1 September 2008.
Fannie, Freddie and the ‘economics of fear’. The troubles at America’s big, folksy-named mortgage providers are a symptom of today's wider anxiety about the future of society. spiked, 22 July 2008.
After Pennsylvania: demography is destiny. With neither Clinton nor Obama offering a compelling political vision, the primaries are becoming a deeply entrenched war of identities. spiked, 24 April 2008.
What ‘Bittergate’ reveals about the 2008 race. Barack Obama’s views about rednecks clinging to guns and God are certainly offensive. But he isn’t the only Democrat who holds them. spiked, 17 April 2008.
Baseball’s Salem. Witch-hunting steroid-users in baseball will do more to undermine the integrity of America’s national pastime than any amount of drug-taking. spiked, 9 April 2008.
Bear Stearns: politicians bail out. The collapse of another bank shows the credit crunch is spreading from ‘contamination’ to ‘contagion’. Why isn’t the political class paying attention? spiked, 17 March 2008.
Spitzer is down, but Spitzerism remains. The Governor of New York State has been reduced to ‘Client Number 9’ in a prostitution case, but his cynical approach to politics lives on. spiked, 12 March 2008.
Clinton v Obama: the identity wars. With Hillary as ‘put-upon woman’ and Obama as ‘race victim’, the Democrat contest is all about Who You Are rather than what you believe. spiked, 4 March 2008.
Desperately seeking the authentic president. With little meat in the US elections, voters are looking longingly into the eyes of the candidates hoping to glimpse the 'real' person within. spiked, 14 February 2008.
Why this year’s Super Tuesday was different. Media confusion, changeable voters, distrust in voting technology… yesterday’s ‘Tsunami Tuesday’ highlighted some big changes in US politics. spiked, 6 February 2008.
Will Obama change American politics?. After his big win in South Carolina, Barack Obama said the word ‘change’ a dozen times. Does he really have a transformative, convention-busting vision? spiked, 28 January 2008.
Getting to grips with Obama-mania. He has charisma, a good physique and ‘hip-mod grey suits’, and a policy programme that consists only of ‘hope’. Barack Obama takes the politics of personality to a new low. spiked, 8 January 2008.