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?A lot of people are really impressed by the insight that survey research among the British reliably suggests that both strongly left-wing and strongly right-wing positions are popular. A more nuanced version refines this to economically left-wing and socially right-wing positions. Nick Barlow’s post here is an example, but I don’t want to single him…
Read More Invisible Gammon: Fun with the Ecological FallacySo apparently this is a thing: Latest rumour is a May statement at 1.45pm. Full lectern job. Let's see. — Francis Elliott (@elliotttimes) September 21, 2018 There are prime ministerial statements, and then there are ones that get the official lectern. Those are special. And depressingly, it works, for a time at least: Totally normal,…
Read More Full Lectern JobSo there’s this: How to make the UK the laughing stock of the world. https://t.co/BKRzC7QZco — (((Frances Coppola))) (@Frances_Coppola) September 15, 2018 Specifically, Liam Fox’s ministry is sponsoring the restoration of a Spitfire as part of its export promotion campaign. FOXFIRE!!! This reminded me of something. If you’re pitching to the Big Lottery Fund or…
Read More FOXFIRE! and grant applications as a way of political lifeHere is the first ad in the government campaign for the deployment of so-called smart energy meters, a giant Internet of Things project that’s not going so well. So here we have the charming little tykes Gaz and Leccy, a pair of mischievous pseudo-adolescents bouncing around causing trouble for the tired-olds (check out that astonishingly…
Read More Taking back control: Gaz, Leccy, and Frank FieldThis War on the Rocks post is excellent, making the case that Hamas has succeeded in denying the Israelis escalation-dominance and this is why a cold peace is holding-ish. These TYR Flashbacks! refer (one, two, three, four.)
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