At the Conservative Party Conference, Cheers All the Way

In Birmingham, Shut Up and Cheer, National Review Online, October 1, 2014. "A regular complaint of British Conservatives is that the party conference is no longer what it once was. It’s not simply small to American eyes; it’s sadly diminished in British ones. There are now no motions from the floor, no debate, and little sense that the party has much interest in reflecting the views of its most active members. As one MP put it to me, the conference is now for lobbyists, corporate donors, and television. Like American political conventions, it exists to affirm the leadership, not to challenge it. Above all, it must be a success."

Too Many Academics?

Peace Studies and the Historical Profession, Contentions, December 20, 2010. "I don’t say this very often – heck, I’m not sure I’ve ever said it – but the latest issue of Perspectives on History, the American Historical Association’s monthly newsmagazine, contains an interesting article. In fact, it contains two of them, both of which gain additional interest when coupled with recent events in Britain and a piece in the latest Economist on “The Disposable Academic.” The only question is whether the Economist is describing reality or offering a preference."

In Britain, Guess Who's Guilty of Racism?

Jewish Schools in Britain at Risk, Contentions, July 1, 2009. Last week, three British judges ruled that JFS, formerly the Jews’ Free School, in north-west London, racially discriminated against an applicant. The school is state-funded. The school sought to discriminate in favor of Jewish applicants certified by the Chief Rabbi — a procedure formerly thought to be legal, as long as the school was oversubscribed and the discrimination was not based on ethnicity. The judges found that, contrary to a decision by a lower court, what had been “characterised as religious grounds were in fact racial grounds, despite their theological motivation.” In short, the judges held, Jews are an ethnicity, and therefore are not eligible to maintain state-supported schools discriminating in favor of Jewish students, no matter whether they are oversubscribed or not, because such discrimination would be inherently racist."

Who's Responsible for Educational Failure in Britain?

Eugenics and Class in Brit Schools, Contentions, May 13, 2009. This was not the title I submitted for this piece, and I do not endorse the title it was published under.

Obama on Higher Education, Part 2

Re: Everyone, Back to School!, Contentions, February 26, 2009.

Obama on Higher Education

Subsidizing Media Studies Degrees Will Not Help the Economy, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 26, 2009.

The Wisdom of Basil Fawlty

Don't Mention the Jihadists, Contentions, February 25, 2009.