Alex Massie

Alex Massie

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Department of Pronunciation

A friend's wife was conducting a teacher training session in Anacostia, Washington DC the other day:  "In one of the classes that she worked in there were two children with oddly spelled, and thus oddly pronounced, names.  Let's see if you can figure out how these names are pronounced 1) "Bukat"- hint, the child is a boy and is named after a famous African American of the late 19th century and early 20th century 2) "La-a"- this one is challenging...  The hyphen is part of the pronunciation. I confess, dear reader, that both of these names flummoxed me. Answers below the fold.

Alex Massie

In Praise of Minority Government.

Oh dear. I'm afraid I must take issue with Fraser. He claims that last week's budget entertainment at the Scottish Parliament demonstrates the weakness of minority government. Maybe so, but I'd prefer to see it another way: minority government protects the public from the worst excesses of parliamentary rule. And where Fraser considers last weeks' events  a "fiasco" and a "shambles" I see them as nothing more than politics as usual. Sure, there was some horse-trading as the SNP tried to find the 65 votes it needed to pass the budget. But this is normal. Has Fraser ever had a look at the House of Representatives in Washington? There was plenty in the budget the Grenn party disapproved of (roads!) so why on earth shouldn't they ask for a sweetener in return for their support?

Alex Massie

Organ Markets

Interesting piece from ABC News about people trying to find kidney donors via Craigslist. This leapt out however: But some families who talked to ABC News say once they find a kidney outside of the traditional organ-donor waiting list system, they have faced hospitals that are suspicious or unprepared to deal with the legal and ethical questions of harvesting an organ from a living person located through personal ads. Only 10 percent of transplant centers will consider doing a kidney transplant from an altruistic live donor who is not related or known by the patient.

Monday

Alex Massie

License to Print Money

The nice people at the Tote would like to give you some money. How else to explain their generous decision to permit you to back Shivnarine Chanderpaul to be the West Indies leading run-scorer in the forthcoming Test series at the odds of 7/4? The "true" price should be, at best, about evens. I also think that 7/2 on the West Indies winning the series is not a terrible proposition either. They're a team on the up and barring some sudden reversal of form it's not obvious that England are well-placed to take 20 wickets all that often.

Alex Massie

Michael Steele & Dog Whistles

Ta-Nehisi Coates is encouraged by Michael Steele's election as chairman of the RNC: I have no idea whether Steele will be any good, but I think his selection marks the start of excising the Obama is a M00zlim contingent of the party. I am, perhaps, being too optimistic. But I maintain that you have to begin somewhere....I think Steele has a Sarah Palin problem. Remember the silly math that had Palin giving Obama fits for the votes of women? Ultimately, that line of attack fizzled because, I'd argue, a lot of women found Palin embarrassing--an obvious token who wasn't ready for prime-time. I think Steele is twice the politician that Sarah Palin is. But the question remains--How does he get black folks to look at him as more than a token?

Alex Massie

Michael Phelps: Another Victim of Drug War Hysteria

So Michael Phelps smokes marijuana from time to time. Big deal. What a shame though that he's released this statement: "I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," Phelps said in a statement released by Octagon, his management firm, and posted on his Facebook site. "I'm 23 years old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public -- it will not happen again." Phelps has done nothing wrong and has nothing to apologise for. Perhaps his sponsors have suggested he adopt this craven, humiliating posture.

Alex Massie

Workers of the World: Vote in Our Poll

Just like at the mother-blog, many commenters here seem disinclined to endorse my euro-happy celebration of the freedome of movement for labour, capital and goods. 'Tis the nature of the times, I guess. Still, to put a more professional-seeming gloss on this amateur, possibly muddled sense, why don't you cast a vote in our exciting Spectator poll?

Sunday

Alex Massie

Jonathon Porritt: Stupid and Wicked.

Tim Worstall rightly says this is stupid. I'd go further and also call it wicked. Couples who have more than two children are being “irresponsible” by creating an unbearable burden on the environment, the government’s green adviser has warned. Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the government’s Sustainable Development Commission, says curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. I think this must be a new low in pro-abortion arguments. How long before Porritt or some other eco-lunatic advocates compulsory sterilisation? Not sure you want to be pregnant? Well think of the trees... [PS: Chances of Godwin's Law being invoked in the Comments? 100%.

Alex Massie

The Roger and Rafa Show

There isn't anything in any sport better right now than the rivalry between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. This morning they produced another five set epic that was a fitting conclusion to the best Australian Open in years. And, for the fifth match in a row it was the Spaniard who emerged victorious. Not for the first, nor one suspects the last, time Nadal defeated Federer physically and mentally. This was a match Federer will feel he should have won: he had a legion of chances to break and win the third set but each time either his own timidity or, more often, Nadal's seemingly inexhaustible supply of fortitude prevented the Swiss from making the vital breakthrough.

Saturday

Alex Massie

The Bearded Wonder Was Right

Sad news that Bill Frindall has been run out, courtesy of a dodgy call from the non-strikers' end. From the BBC's tribute: "These are serious men, who will take up hours of your life if you let them, arguing about whether Fred Trueman lighting his pipe 21 times between lunch and tea was a record for an Oval Test against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge in June." So wrote Martin Johnson about Bill Frindall and the cricket statistician fraternity in the Daily Telegraph, after England's Andrew Strauss played all around a Shane Warne delivery in the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney in January 2007, a dismissal which saw the leg-spinner become the first bowler to take 700 Test wickets in history. According to Frindall, however, Warne was still six wickets short of the mark. Why?

Friday

Alex Massie

British jobs are not just for British workers. That’s a good thing.

It's just like old times isn't it? A Labour government, economic catastrophe and now, wildcat strikes across the country. It serves the Prime Minister right too. His demagogic promise of "British jobs for British workers" has come back to bite him. And deservedly so. Now, as it happens, I have some plenty of sympathy for the British contractors who have failed to win contracts at Total's Lincolnshire refinery, but their anger would be more profitably directed at their own management.

Alex Massie

Lessons from Tyler

At an Economist roundtable, Tyler Cowen makes a bold suggestion: First, to the extent that the real problem is fear, this militates in favour of placebo policies. By that I mean initiatives which appear bold and have great symbolic value, but which don't necessarily cost us very much. I haven't seen us make a major attempt to identify such proposals, but it is unlikely that an $800 billion stimulus fits the bill...The reality is that we don't actually know what will work, precisely because the problem goes beyond just stimulating aggregate demand.  I'm no expert on these matters but this seems plausible to me.

Alex Massie

GOP Heads in the Sand

Oh dear. Jonah Goldberg has been in Britain and he doesn't like what he sees. Fair enough, there's plenty to deplore about the present government. But what Goldberg is most afraid of is that the Republican party might learn something from David Cameron's Tories. This, it seems, is the very last thing the GOP should do. Because obviously when you've spent eight years trashing your own "brand" and suffering a brace of heavy election defeats, the very last thing you should do is look and learn from how conservative parties in the rest of the world are faring. (Insert standard caveat about the real and meaningful differences between American conservatism and its international brethren here.

Alex Massie

The Segolene Show Runs and Runs

The old line de mortuis nil nisi bonum has been joined, these days, by a convention that vanquished politicians respect the verdict of the electorate and mumble something nice about the victor while wishing them all the best and so on. Happily they do things differently in France. Segolene Royal has a new book out and it's fair to say that she's still miffed, and surprised, that she was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy. Which, while distressing for Madame Royal, is good news for the rest of us. Here's her appraisal of Sarko: What bothers me most about him is his immorality. ..He does not hide his greed, his bulimia for money, for sensuality and pleasure. He has a form of extreme cynicism, like a teenager who wants to dazzle the entire planet. He has the talent of of a liar. ...

Alex Massie

“The concept of good and bad schools is false”

Meanwhile, away from the budget ballyhoo comes a reminder of one of the problems afflicting Scotland: the teaching unions. Today sees the publication of an eminently sensible report from the think tank Reform Scotland that advocates, essentially, a voucher system that draws on Swedish and Dutch educational reforms and would, if ever implemented, dramatically increase the range of educational choices available to the poor. This is not controversial in other countries, so why is it so frightening here? Well, look at what we're dealing with: The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association dismissed the report's findings. Jim Docherty, acting general secretary, added: "The concept of good and bad schools is false. There is no large variation in the quality of Scottish schools.

Alex Massie

Holyrood Drama? Not so fast, my friends!

Well, that didn't last long. The entertainment (see yesterday's post) at Holyrood seems to be coming to an end. As predicted by Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting, there seems every chance that the revised Scottish government budget will, far from precipitating the excitement of an issue-free* election, result in the budget being passed unanimously. Everyone will have extracted their ounce of flesh from the SNP (but no more than that).  The Scotsman's headline claims all this amounts to a series of "shock" u-turns but I don't see what's so surprising about parties backing away from the prospect of an election few people really wanted.

Alex Massie

Talk Radio Governance?

Arizona's John Kyl had this to say about the Republican attitude to the stimulus package: "They can cram down a stimulus package without Republican support," said Kyl, "but if that happens, then when, as we believe, in six months or so, when the American people say, 'Wait a minute, we're not better off. In fact, we're worse off than we were six months ago. Who is responsible for this and what can be done to fix it?' Republicans then are going to be in a position to say, 'We didn't have the input in this and that's why it didn't work.'" To which Andrew Sullivan responds "Ugh" complaining that this is "Pure politics, no responsibility" and that the GOP offers only "governance as talk radio".

Thursday

Alex Massie

Obama’s Trade Credentials

The stimulus bill working its way through the Congressional sausage-grinder contains "Buy American" provisions that are, unsurprisingly, resisted by American companies that like selling things overseas. Not unreasonably they fear this sort of (questionably legal?) manoevre may lead to other countries retaliating in kind. So, this is going to be a wee test for the new President and his advisors who, as Megan McArdle reminds us, spent the campaign winking and suggesting that, come on guys, you know this rhetoric is just for the campaign, right? Mind you, Megan also puts the rumpus into some perspective: By the standards of Smoot-Hawley, this is paltry stuff.  And by the standards of setting yourself on fire, sawing off your own leg with a nail file isn't so bad. Still.

Alex Massie

Holyrood Drama! For Real!

So, what to make of yesterday's drama at the Scottish Parliament? First things first: it's good to have some actual drama. Secondly, the failure to pass a budget marks the first real defeat for Alex Salmond's minority administration since the SNP squeaked a victory in the 2007 elections. Mr Salmond's many enemies will revel in seeing him be embarrassed for once. What did it come down to? In a £33bn (itself a monstrous sum) budget the bill was lost for want of a measly £11m. The Green party - both of them - had demanded £100m a year for ten years to insulate every loft in Scotland. The SNP, not unreasonably, suggested this was not the most pressing of concerns and offered a £22m bribe sum instead.

Alex Massie

White House Style

At long last, the long national nightmare is over. From a fun NYT piece on Obama's looser White House regime: If there is one thing Mr. Obama has not gotten around to changing, it is the Oval Office décor. When Mr. Bush moved in, he exercised his presidential decorating prerogatives and asked his wife, Laura, to supervise the design of a new rug. Mr. Bush loved to regale visitors with the story of the rug, whose sunburst design, he liked to say, was intended to evoke a feeling of optimism. The rug is still there, as are the presidential portraits Mr. Bush selected — one of Washington, one of Lincoln — and a collection of decorative green and white plates.