Nanny strikes again: NYC bans smoking in parks and beaches
With backing from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New York City Council yesterday banned smoking in city parks and beaches.
Bloomberg is known for introducing nannying measures to control personal behavior. This latest ban is an extension of his ban on smoking in restaurants and bars imposed in 2002.
The main reason given for the ban is to prevent ...
Egypt – it’s not about religion
This is a photo of non-Muslims protecting Muslims at prayer in Cairo, according to this site.
Message to America: Hands off Egypt!
After decades of backing autocrats, the best thing Washington can do for the cause of Egyptian democracy is to butt out.
Read my spiked article in full here.
The reality of Obama’s interference in Egypt
Here’s President Obama’s statement in response to Mubarak’s announcement that he will not stand in the elections planned for September.
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, there is a contrast between Obama’s rhetoric of support for Egyptian self-determination and the ...
Gary V: Finger Lakes wines due respect
I first wrote about Gary Vaynerchuk here. In this segment of his internet show, Gary bigs ...
The US should not “do more” in Egypt
It is exciting to see the Egyptian people rebelling against the Mubarak regime and demanding democracy. They should be fully ...
This week’s articles of note
“Dealing with Assange and the Wikileaks secrets,” The New York Times Magazine, by Bill Keller
“Nudge on trial,” Slate, by David Weigel
“Detroitism: what does ‘ruin porn’ tell us about the motor city?” Guernica, by John Patrick Leary
“Crunch time: Barack Obama’s next two years,” The Economist
“The revolt ...
Ann Furedi responds to William Saletan on late-term abortion
In Slate, William Saletan last week used the recent case of the Philadelphia abortion-clinic doctor, Kermit Gosnell, to re-state his argument against late-term abortion. In that article, one of the “absolutists” who Saletan criticizes is Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.
Furedi herself recently wrote “a ...
Obama rebounds in polls
Heading into tomorrow night’s State of the Union address, President Barack Obama is riding a wave of rising approval ratings.
Most polls over the past week show Obama at over a 50 percent approval rating. Real Clear Politics’ average of polls (graph above) finds 51.0 percent approve, the President’s highest ...
Leave the Tiger Mother behind
For a level-headed take on the Amy “Tiger Mother” Chua business that puts the discussion into perspective, I recommend you read Nancy McDermott’s post.
She argues that this is another case of “seeing social and cultural issues ...
ABOUT SEAN COLLINS
I write about American current affairs for Spiked, the online magazine. I am a native New Yorker, and I divide my time between New York City and upstate New York.
In addition to articles for Spiked, The Australian and other publications, I contributed an essay, "BDS: Demonizing Israel, Destroying Free Speech," for the book Unsafe Space: The Crisis of Free Speech on Campus (2016). I also wrote a chapter on New York City's economy for the book London After Recession: A Fictitious Capital? (2012).
My writings have been cited in American Conservative, Arts & Letters Daily, the Financial Times, Fox News, the Huffington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, the New York Times, Real Clear Politics, and the Times of London, among other media.
For more about The American Situation site, go here.
