Electoral politics, particularly in Western Europe, is a toxic amalgam of power-madness, low cunning, and moral grandiosity. Of these, as St. Paul said of charity, moral grandiosity is the greatest: that is to say, not the best or most important in this particular context, but the most harmful. I suppose it is only natural for a man or woman who has been legitimately elected—according to preestablished rules—to suppose that he or she is not only popular but entitled to direct affairs according to his or her own brilliant conceptions. Unfortunately, in Britain we are beginning to see the ...
Sport is well-known for bringing people together. Over in France, for example, ahead of this summer’s Paris Olympics, after President Macron promised to go for a dip in the Seine to prove how clean ...
The inclination to analyze politicians’ conduct by means of psychiatric diagnosis is growing. This is unsurprising in view of what was once called psychiatric imperialism: the classification of all ...
Over in Spain around this time of year, during Holy Month, a specially chosen prisoner is picked out for sudden early release by the ever-generous Spanish State and let back out ...
During the 2004–07 waves of expansion, the European Union (EU) welcomed ten countries of the former Soviet bloc along with Cyprus and Malta. “Old Europe” sought to rebuild ...
Quelle surprise was caused in France recently when Charles de Gaulle’s grandson, Pierre, suddenly announced his intention to apply for citizenship in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. ...
As this piece is going up on 9/11, I thought I’d better do something about Islam. But first, as Monty Python (almost) used to say, for something completely different: Like Hot ...
The 1942 movie Casablanca is the cinematic version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which a Victorian woman reportedly disliked because she found it “full of clichés.” It ought not ...
When the telling of jokes was still part of European culture, racial and ethnic traits were often a key ingredient, and comedians thrived on national stereotypes. A perfect ...
The unelected gauleiters of the European Union must look back a decade with wistful fondness to a halcyon time when their only real headache was the Greek economy. Now, with ...
One London evening in 1914, just after Great Britain had declared war on Germany, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey was in his parliamentary office talking to a ...
“Buy land,” Mark Twain advised. “They’re not making it anymore.” Perhaps Bill Gates has been reading the American author, as he recently became the largest private owner ...
Italian politics in recent years make ancient Rome look like Belgium. By all means catch up on the details of Italy’s current political infighting, if you have a spare day or ...
"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold." So wrote William Butler Yeats in the wake of the Great War of 1914-1918 that had ravaged the Christian civilization he had known. In ...
"Let Poland be Poland!" That was the call of American conservatives, four decades ago, when the Solidarity movement of labor leader Lech Walesa arose in the port city of Gdansk ...
The old adage is “the worm isn’t supposed to turn.” On the rare occasions when it does, it brings about tremendous anger and retribution. The Republic of Poland is now ...
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