Boris Johnson, via
Recent links of note:
Why Bloomberg Won’t Run for President
John Fund, National Review
Though Donald Trump may not be our ideal version of a “political outsider,” his ascendance proves that America’s appetite for a third-party candidate who exists outside of the traditional Republican/Democrat paradigm is strong. For many practical conservatives, the seemingly ideal candidate in that mold is the former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, a man of actual (rather than purported) wealth, committed to seeking out real solutions to the festering sore that is American politics. So will he run? Probably not, explains John Fund. The road to victory for a third party candidate is just too long. Alas.
When Political Punditry Was Born
James Panero, City Journal
This year marks the release, and revisiting, of what many consider to be a seminal moment in television history: ABC’s debates between William F. Buckley Jr and Gore Vidal. In their film, Best of Enemies, Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville bring the famous debates to a contemporary audience that may only know them through dinner party whispers; 1968 seems like a long time ago, indeed. Much has been said about the debates: how Buckley lost his cool, how Vidal “played dirty,” but the only way to assess these conjectures is to actually see the film. In the meantime, City Journal has an analysis from our own James Panero on the effects of the debate on what we now call “political punditry.”
Boris in the wilderness
James Forsyth, The Spectator
The historical counterfactual is a fun game: What would have happened had the American’s not gained independence in 1776?; What if William hadn’t conquered Britain?, et cetera. This week’s thought experiment: what if the Tories hadn’t won a clear majority in the most recent British elections? James Forsyth suggests that Boris Johnson would have acceded to the Conservative Party Leadership. But now it’s George Osborne who’s likely to carry the day. The matter isn’t settled though, and, as Forsyth notes, “favourites, notoriously, tend not to win Tory leadership contests.” And so the speculation continues.
First hearings held in the Hague over alleged cultural heritage war crimes
Victoria Stapely-Brown, The Art Newspaper
Finally some good news regarding the rampant destruction by Islamists of culturally important sites: Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi has been “charged with war crimes related to the destruction of cultural heritage under the Rome Statute.” Al Mahdi is the first to be charged with such a crime, but one hopes not the last. I’ve commented previously in this space on the West’s spineless behavior in regards to culture-destroying terrorists and this marks a good start. But if we’re only to apprehend these cretins after the fact, don’t we risk losing more landmarks, like we did recently in Palmyra? If the international community is serious about protecting our cultural heritage then their measures will need to be more proactive than reactive.
From our pages:
Coates Contra Mundum
Anthony Daniels
A review of Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates.