So James Palmer of @BeijingPalmer fame recommended me Feng Jicai’s Ten Years of Madness as a good book on the Cultural Revolution. It’s all that. The best biog of Feng I’ve found is this French one, much better than the frankly thin Wikipedia coverage. He is a product of the old-school scholar gentry, a significant…
Read More Boooks: Ten Years of MadnessI originally drafted this post as the second on Tim Shipman’s book last autumn. Having found and re-read it I have revised it, among other things to go with Jonathan Portes’ appreciation for Sir Jeremy Heywood, the signing of a Brexit agreement, and the outing of the American Friends of the IEA An interesting thought…
Read More #AllOutWar On the InstitutionsThis Pro Publica story about CPAP machines has been doing the rounds because of Eric Umansky’s experience with the one that reported back how much he was sleeping to some…thing…that decided it wasn’t enough, and therefore remotely bricked his sleep aid so he’d…whatever. But I think trying to force fit this into a mould about…
Read More How Not to Join a Coasian Hell: BrexitSomething I’ve been following with morbid curiosity is the way American press (well, TV really) keeps freaking the fuck out over the fact Alexandra Osario-Cortez is not incredibly rich and has to do things like not move to Washington until the Congressional payroll department gets around to paying her. The first time was maybe a…
Read More American Politicians: RichA quick thought on the famous Tory letters. If you want to spill the Tory leader, you need a set percentage of the Tory MPs to write to the 1922 Committee chairman. The current trigger level is 48, and the current chairman is Graham Brady MP. There is a lot of mystery about the process,…
Read More How many letters?