United Kingdom
Zipcar: Has The Carsharing Service Worked?
Since the first Zipcars appeared in Boston in June 2000, the company has grown by leaps and bounds, expanding throughout the United States, and even into Canada and the United Kingdom. The company now has a fleet of over 8,000 cars, and over 560,000 members. Yesterday, Zipcar held its IPO, and saw its share price shoot up 56% on a volume of almost 10 million shares. Questions still remain, though, despite the strong IPO: can the price hold up even though Zipcar has never turned a profit?
Swan Song
From the moment the Soviet Union collapsed, NATO’s future was in question. While it had been the most successful multinational alliance in history, partnerships of that sort seldom survive once their enemies are gone. As the Berlin Wall came down and Stalin’s empire shattered, NATO’s clock was ticking. Amazingly, though, the Alliance persisted, largely by transforming itself. It staved off a challenge from a proposed European Union Defense Force, which might have supplanted it; provided an institutional framework for continued U.S.
A Boy’s Own Story
Colonel Roosevelt By Edmund Morris (Random House, 766 pp., $35) I. The reputation of Theodore Roosevelt has become as bloated as the man himself. No one of course can deny his fundamental significance in American history, as a central player in the transitions from republic to empire, laissez-faire to regulated capitalism, congressional government to imperial presidency. It should come as no surprise that professional historians still pay close attention to his career. What is surprising is the cult-like status that Roosevelt enjoys outside the academy, especially in Washington.
Innovative No More
Last May, then-New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein traveled to Jerusalem at the invitation of Mayor Nir Barkat. After several of Klein’s other overseas trips, school administrators in places like Australia and England had subsequently spun off some of his favored policies, particularly the controversial school grading system he had put in place in New York. In Israel, Klein again hammered home the values of accountability and bold, rather than incremental, change that he had pushed in seven years leading America’s largest school system.
Into the Wilde
Imagine the portrait that is the subject of Oscar Wilde’s classic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the famous story of a beautiful youth whose portrait alters to reflect the depravity of his life, while his face remains forever unchanged. Wilde describes it as a picture of a “young Adonis, who looks as if he was made of ivory and rose-leaves.” In one artist’s vision, Dorian’s long black coat is tight-fitting, with a white flower in the lapel, and his white shirt is crisply starched.
Real Conservatives Don’t Slash Foreign Aid
As House Republicans press for deeper budget cuts, one of their top targets is foreign aid. It is a tempting candidate for draconian cuts—a soft priority in today’s hard fiscal times and a budget line with no strong domestic constituency. Before Republican budget hawks wield their knife, however, they should take a lesson from their conservative cousins in the United Kingdom: When belt-tightening gets serious, foreign aid should be improved, not gutted. After coming to power last summer, British conservatives have not just talked about slashing Britain’s budget, they have delivered.
Stanley Kauffmann on Films: Acting, Globally
A Somewhat Gentle Man Strand Releasing The Housemaid IFC Films Every Day Image Entertainment Stellan Skarsgård is unique. He is a truly distinguished actor with a truly undistinguished face.
January 1 Is Not Yet Over. But The First Terror Killings Have Already Brought Death to Dozens of Men And Women
Yes, of course. The majority of Muslims are against terror killings of Christians. Maybe even a big majority. But the fact is there is little evidence and, in fact, almost no evidence of revulsion at what has become the distinctive imprint of Islam in the modern world. Alright, I'll note the most important caveat: it is not Islam but Islamists and Islamism that are at fault in this ongoing outrage. But still! Wouldn't you think there'd be a protest or two somewhere in the arc of Muslim faith that stretches from Indonesia to Morocco and southwards to the deepest reaches of Africa?
Being Winston Churchill
Seventy years ago, in the summer and fall of 1940, Western civilization teetered in the balance as Britain stood alone against Nazi-controlled Europe. Other major world powers did not lend aid; Russia supported Germany, and the United States remained neutral. After Britain resisted the assault of Nazi bombers, in what was dubbed the “Battle of Britain,” the country was saved and German momentum stymied. The whole course of the war then radically shifted.
Way Too Big To Fail
There were many factors that led us to the financial crisis of 2008—dangerous derivatives, irresponsible ratings agencies, negligent regulators—but one was more important than the rest. We now know it as the “too big to fail” problem. What brought the economy to the edge of disaster wasn’t only that financial institutions had made rash bets on lousy investments, but that those institutions were so massive that when their bets went bad, they threatened to take the rest of the economy down with them.
