I Am Utterly Shocked By These Events

Who Could Possibly Have Expected This Anti-Semitism in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party?, Weekly Standard Online, with Robin Simcox, April 29, 2016. "Utterly, totally unexpected developments are occurring in Britain's Labour Party, which is led by Jeremy Corbyn, a man who once described Osama bin Laden's death as "an assassination attempt, and . . . yet another tragedy, upon a tragedy, upon a tragedy." It turns out—and certainly, no one could possibly have seen this coming—that some of Corbyn's supporters don't like Jews very much."

On the Difference Between Donald Trump and a Communist

The Very Unlikely Political Parallels Between Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn, Yorkshire Post, January 29, 2016. "Donald Trump’s surprising buoyancy in the Republican primary contest strikes many Britons as inexplicable. But then I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around Jeremy Corbyn. Yet, as political phenomena, the two actually aren’t so far apart." (Published under my own name.)

For Corbyn, Like Curly, Something's Turned Up

Do the Corbyn Shuffle, Weekly Standard, January 21, 2016. "The only thing less impressive than the backing for Jeremy Corbyn inside Britain's Labour Party is its opposition to him. When Corbyn won his shock bid for the leadership of the party in September, it seemed unlikely that a man who started with the support of fewer than 20 Labour MPs would hold the job for long. But now, the chances he'll be ousted soon are dropping. Meeting with Corbyn's opponents inside the party is a dispiriting experience. Blairites all, they give the impression of being short on policy ideas as well as constructive plans for opposition, and of being on a slow journey past anger and denial toward something that looks uncomfortably like acquiescence, though certainly not acceptance. So much has changed that it's hard to believe that Blair was Prime Minister less than a decade ago."

When the Tory Music Stops

Tories Count on Labour’s Looniness – For Now, National Review Online, October 9, 2015. "The annual conference of Britain’s Conservative party, which commands a slender but welcome parliamentary majority after the May elections, wrapped up on Wednesday in Manchester. If last year’s conference was an exercise in nerves and jitters, this year’s was a display of confidence — coupled with quiet grumbles from within the party, and shouts of rage from outside of it."

Insiders and Outsiders, Risks and Safety

Tory Safety First Strategy Is Not Without Its Risks, Yorkshire Post, October 7, 2015. "One striking fact is that Conservative voters in Britain appear to be the only ones in both nations who aren’t hungering for an outsider. A new poll from ConservativeHome finds that safe George Osborne is now the Tory favourite to follow safe David Cameron as Prime Minister."

Liberalism's AWOL Leaders

Where Are the New Leaders For Unpopular Left?, Yorkshire Post, July 6, 2015. "It's difficult to look around America, or Britain, and see the next generation of liberal leaders. Undoubtedly, this is partly cyclical: in the mid-1990s, the Tories were short on talent, yet a decade later, it was Labour that was exhausted. Liberalism is not down forever."