THE PLANK OCTOBER 16, 2009
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--David Runciman's fascinating essay on the social and political consequences of inequality
--William Deresiewicz's review of Margaret Atwood (Deresiewicz's fantastic piece on Jonathan Lethem in this week's TNR is here).
--TNR has some great Afghanistan/Pakistan pieces coming next week. To hold you over, check out Dexter Filkins' profile of Stanley McChrystal and Vanessa M. Gezari's account of a rare Afghan success story
--Conor Friedersdorf's take on Rush Limbaugh's race-baiting
--In British political news, David Brooks has an interesting op-ed on the Tories, Matthew d'Anconca applauds David Cameron's radicalism, and Geoffrey Wheatcroft says Blair--and not Brown--is to blame for Labour's collapse
3 comments
--William Deresiewicz's review of Margaret Atwood That's the second link to a Nation article this week in The New Republic - Martin Peretz provided the other. It might be easier to link to the table of contents next time.
- ndmackenzie
October 16, 2009 at 4:50pm
I just started Morris Dickstein's Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression. This is a wonderful book and this is what I will be reading this weekend.
- MrCookie1
October 16, 2009 at 5:23pm
Oh, yes! More hagiography for the visionary Tories! Though an observer of British politics from across the Atlantic, I find all this sort of Cameron love both amusing and sad. Brooks has been trying to tell the GOP that the Cameron Tories are the future for years. Before the crisis it was because they were friendly, and were light on social issues and what not. Now, it's because they're supposedly leveling with the British people over undergoing huge spending cuts due to the deficit. Never mind of course where John McCain, pedaling a similar "spending freeze" last year went, i.e. nowhere, or how Governors who are now making huge cuts have seen their own approval ratings collapse. Cameron and company are showing the way! Brooks's belief in this as the cause of Tory success (as opposed to what it really is, namely a Labour government that's stuck in a huge economic crisis, with an uncharismatic leader, that seemingly has faced a botched coup against the PM a month, and to top it all off has a media that hates their leader even worse than the 2000 media hated Al Gore). Brooks hasn't realized the simple fact that if you poll the people they'll a) Be in favor of cutting down the deficit and b) Be stridently opposed to tax raises or cuts to programs that they use. Ask the 1990s GOP how everyone loved deficit reduction, but hated medicare cuts. Cameron's a rich empty suit promising a "compassionate conservativism," about to face off with a serious man for serious times but stinks at the art of politics and is hated by the media. Where have we seen that before?
- Crock1701
October 16, 2009 at 5:51pm