Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Turning protest into a freakfest
Why do the great and good of America want to be best friends with the Occupy Wall Street oddballs? Read my spiked article in full here.
Occupy Wall Street: elite befriend middle-class freaks
The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) demonstration in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan reached the one-month mark yesterday. Few would have predicted when it started that it would gain as much attention as it has, or spread to other cities around the world. What began as a gathering of a few hundred generally younger adults is now said to have become something more substantial: […]
After 11 September: their “resilience”, and ours
New Yorkers demonstrated true bravery and heroism in response to 9/11. The same cannot be said for America’s political leaders. Read my spiked article in full here.
Irene response shows New York has lost its swagger
Thankfully, Hurricane Irene was not as bad as some had feared. Did the experience tell us anything about life in New York and the US today? I think so – here are some observations: The emergence of Irene was something to take seriously. It was not fully clear how strong the hurricane would be by the time it reached the […]
President Obama’s Summertime Blues
Yes, his approval ratings have plummeted, but Republicans shouldn’t gloat: Americans have had it with the whole political class. Read my spiked article in full here.
A BS lesson for America: “Tea Party will bring London riots to the US”
Richard Sennett (sociology professor at NYU and LSE) and Saskia Sassen (sociology professor at Columbia) have an op-ed in the New York Times this week that purports to explain the causes of the riots in London and the lessons from them for the US. It is muddle-headed, and indicative of liberal prejudices today. The article […]
Calling the Tea Party “terrorists”
As the debt ceiling negotations were heading down to the wire, the liberal criticisms of the Tea Party representatives in Congress got more heated. By the end, there was little holding back. Democrat representative Mike Doyle, in a meeting attended by Vice-President Joe Biden, referred to the Republicans as “terrorists” (Biden denied reports that he himself used […]
The real cause of the US debt crisis? Slow growth
The pantomime political debate about the debt ceiling is distracting attention from the parlous state of the productive economy. Read my spiked article in full here.
Tea Party: maybe crazy, definitely winning
In her Sunday New York Times column on the debt ceiling business, Maureen Dowd points out the many ways in which the Tea Party is succeeding: Consider what the towel-snapping Tea Party crazies have already accomplished. They’ve changed the entire discussion. They’ve neutralized the White House. They’ve whipped their leadership into submission. They’ve taken taxes and […]
Where the debt comes from
As Congress dithers over extending the debt ceiling, the New York Times has published a useful chart that indicates when the current $14.3 trillion debt originated, as well as who holds the debt. The chart shows that $6.1 trillion of the total, or about 43 percent, resulted from actions during the George W. Bush administration, the most of any […]