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.
Read my spiked article in full here.
Piling on regulation
In an essay last year, I speculated that “today there is a possibility that the Obama regime’s call for ‘more regulation’ will just pile on to the substantial [non-financial] regulation that already exists”. Well, it seems there is an attempt to do just that.
The Financial Times reports ...
Samuel Barber centennial
(Video: Barber String Quartet, No 1, in b minor, Op11, mvt 2-3)
Today, March 9th, marks 100 years since the birth of Samuel Barber, the great American composer.
Barber’s most ...
Who says China isn’t innovative?
Writing in Fortune, Michael Elliott questions China’s record of innovation to date: “Sure, China can grow, but can its companies innovate? Can they build products that will compete in the global marketplace?”
Elliott seems to suggest that, if growth does not come from private companies, it doesn’t count as innovation:
Venture capitalists ...
Education: society doesn’t affirm adult authority
Last week I posted about the Obama administration’s support for closing schools, and Diane Ravitch’s response. Elizabeth Green’s feature in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, “Building a better teacher,” certainly provided a helpful corrective to the Bush and Obama top-down approaches, as it highlighted how much depends on the skills ...
Big Love and Mad Men: is America free-floating with anxiety?
While most of the country was watching the Oscars, HBO was airing the finale of Season 4 of Big Love, its drama about a polygamous family in Utah.
Big Love has been one of the best dramas on TV these past few months. It is interesting how its focus on a non-mainstream family ...
Obama to NASA: don’t boldly go
At the end of January, President Obama announced a major change to NASA’s space program when he put forward his budget request to congress. This week congressmen from both parties criticized the White House plans, and took it out on NASA chief Charles Bolden, who appeared before House ...
Gary Vay-ner-chuk on wine
The wine videos that sum up WLTV. Instant classic-Episode #125 @ Yahoo! VideoI have ...
This week’s articles of note
“Building a better teacher,” The New York Times Magazine, by Elizabeth Green
“Hotheaded Emanuel may be White House voice of reason,” Washington Post, by Jason Horowitz
“Undying creed: the acceleration of our exceptionalism,” World Affairs, by Joel Kotkin
“What happened to New York’s moxie?” Foreign Policy, by James Traub
From post-modern formalism to moral questioning
Paul Auster’s latest novel, Invisible, is a meditation upon the transition from adolescence to adulthood. It explores the intensity of experiences in that period, and how our ...
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.
