Rich Kid, Poor Kid
This marvellous show was like a minute Dickens novella. Of course it was unfair: the odds against the poor little rich girl coming out ahead were very small. And yet one's heart went out to her. Read more...
Culture, Nature, and liberal issues
Page 48 of all posts
The nastiness of the right
People flinch whenever one mentions "the right". It's true: right wing arguments are a hard sell. Here goes. Read more...
A conflicted right-wing manifesto
Intellectual and practical life is a series of paradoxes and conundrums. I would never follow a purist, though purism can be wonderfully clarifying. Read more...
Handling protest (1 of 3)
We should be tougher in the way we think about protest. That was the burden of my written evidence to a Parliamentary committee on Human Rights. Sometimes we seem to get heavy about very little. But more often we think disruptive or vicious protest is really sort of OK. It isn't. Read more...
Handling protest (2 of 3)
A note following evidence to the JC on Human Rights, 23 October 2008 Read more...
Handling protest (3 of 3)
Second note following evidence to the JC on Human Rights, 21 October 2008 Read more...
A few tart words on Barack Obama
Mr Obama has created or been created by a moment in history.
It is a mixed blessing, this triumph. Whilst it is good that the US has overcome years of racism to produce a black president, it is less obviously good that a man has been elected president because he is black. No way out of that conundrum, probably, but it sours things a little. Read more...
Top movie: “The Page Turner” (Fr, 2006)
The Page Turner (Fr, 2006). A tale of revenge amongst coolly classical French artistes. Behind the reserve and the good manners, everyone’s highly-strung and sexy and – in one case – thrillingly sadistic. It has a little something of The Secretary. I don’t think this could be made in England:… Read more...