Massachusetts was not won by the Republicans, it was lost by Obama
Yesterday’s big news from the far side of the Atlantic was the loss of one of the safest Democratic seats to Scott Brown, a man who represents possibly everything that should make us very worried about the Republicans. In Ted Kennedy’s former seat, which [...]
Guest post by Carl Packman
“You know, you already sent 21,000 troops. You might send 65,000 troops. That’s not a Peace Prize-acting activity.”
That’s what the lifelong civil rights activist and cautious Obama supporter, Dr Cornel West, had to say about the president’s surprise reception of the Nobel Peace Prize whilst promoting his new memoir this week.
Cornel [...]
Guest post by Christos Loutradis
Hands up, who knew there’s an election in Greece tomorrow? The snap election triggered by unpopular conservative Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis seeking a new mandate for his ailing New Democracy party to tackle the economy has received little coverage in the UK. But is the all but certain victory of the [...]
America will not prove its openness through hosting the Olympics, but by engaging in diplomacy
It must be difficult for Barack Obama to hear the words ‘no you can’t’, but that was exactly what he had to face today as the IOC chose Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics over his hometown of Chicago. [...]
Guest post by Chris Girffiths
It’s not been an easy summer for Barack Obama. This month has seen yet more shrieking from the right-wings as he attempts to introduce a ‘radical’ scheme to offer US Government-backed health insurance scheme so the poorest people can get medical treatment. Hardly trying to append “SR” to the “US”, is [...]
I’m a Guardian reader. Middle-class, well educated, long-haired and liberal, I don’t exactly dispel the stereotypes associated with the paper whose readers think they ought to run the country. Nor, as one of those lefty, anti-war, environmentalist types who grew up worrying about the state of the world, should it come as any surprise that [...]
Guest post by Carl Packman
102 Minutes That Changed America, the brave documentary that aired on Channel 4 yesterday, made for very tough viewing.
The camera was very intrusive, and actually seemed to infuriate people, but it did what was best in documenting some very sombre and terrifying moments. People, covered in dust and debris, would wave [...]
Guest post by Tadzio Koelb
This week Chester Himes would have celebrated his 100th birthday. If this event is remembered at all, it will mostly be by those who are interested in Himes as the “black Raymond Chandler”, pulp master of the Harlem Renaissance. While this is an accurate reflection of how Himes is read, it [...]
Guest post by Jon Small
The latest character from Sacha Baron Cohen’s entourage of grotesques to hit the big screen is Brüno, the gay-as-a-lamp-post presenter of Austria’s number one fashion show, Funkyzeit. Brüno began life as a minor character in Baron Cohen’s television shows for Paramount Comedy and Channel 4’s Da Ali G Show. As with [...]
Hugo Chavez has a long memory. Himself the victim of a right-wing coup backed by the country’s elite, it is hardly surprising that the Venezuelan leader has been amongst the most vocal supporters of protesters in Honduras struggling to restore Manuel Zelaya, the leftist president ousted in a military coup last week. As Zelaya attempted [...]
