When the New England Patriots made the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, treading the Atlanta Falcons’ dreams firmly into the dust, President Donald Trump knew that he was on to a winner. The dumbed-down embodiment of a coked-up Charlie Sheen even tweeted as much. Though he left his own Super Bowl party early, in a huff when the Patriots…
Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main The pealing thunder shook the heav’nly plain; Majestic grandeur! From the zephyr’s wing, Exhales the incense of the blooming spring. Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes, And through the air their mingled music floats. Through all the heav’ns what beauteous dyes are spread! But the west glories in the…
When it comes to the most corrupt Member of Parliament, it is hard to choose. Could it be Theresa May for her dodgy dealings with Saudi Arabia and the wrongful deportation of tens of thousands of foreign students, Liam Fox for masquerading as a charity and scheming with Adam Werritty while Secretary of State for Defence, or Grant Shapps whose web…
On the first day of Trumpville the Donald gave to me a crowd much nearer than the eye could see. On the second day of Trumpville the Donald gave to me a lying Sean Spicer and a crowd much nearer than the eye could see. On the third day of Trumpville the Donald gave to me more alternative factoids a…
Aries (20 March – 19 April) After the dismays and disappointments of 2016, the first weeks of 2017 have seen your love life finally hotting up. But your home is another thing which appears to be burning, and as your newfound partner scrambles out of the bedroom window without underwear, will the cool exterior serve to fan the flames or…
“Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.” Denis Diderot, Observations on the Drawing Up of Laws (1774) “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Samuel Johnson, quoted in Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell (1791) “Patriotism ruins history.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Conversation with Friedrich Wilhem Riemer (July, 1817)…
A peculiar physics was in operation at this year’s Australian Open, as faster courts served to roll back the clock. Thankfully the rush of serve-and-volley and the rapid gyration of fuzzy yellow balls failed to revert us to a time before tennis, for instance to a Melbourne inhabited by hunter-gatherers or during the exponential growth of the Victorian gold rush. Instead…
In the United Kingdom Theresa May denounces immigrants while demanding a hard Brexit with no parliamentary oversight to tie her hands. In Turkey – after an election rerun and a faultily attempted coup – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continues to purge all opposition and seize control of media outlets as his presidential ambitions gather pace. What can bring two despotic nationalists on…
Among Pelagian travellers, Lost on their lewd conceited way To Massachusetts, Michigan, Miami or L.A., An airborne instrument I sit, Predestined nightly to fulfill Columbia-Giesen-Management’s Unfathomable will, By whose election justified, I bring my gospel of the Muse To fundamentalists, to nuns, To Gentiles and to Jews, And daily, seven days a week, Before a local sense has jelled, From…
Rarely can any court, never mind a Supreme Court, have laboured so diligently on a point of no consequence. But thanks to the contrivances of the Conservatives and the Labour Party, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom today reached a historic ruling which is likely to prove utterly irrelevant. At stake was the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. The Supreme…
