I just finished Suskind’s The Price of Loyalty about Paul O’Neill’s experiences as Treasury Secretary under Bush. It’s a remarkable book. One particular passage really stayed with me. It’s on page 292, and follows Dick Cheney’s extraordinary assertion: “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” I’ve taken the liberty of quoting the whole thing in the extended…
Read More From "The Price of Loyalty"On Saturday I received a slim, glossy package in the mail. It was from Macallan, and contained a DVD with a 17 minute film about the making of Macallan single malt Scotch. Quite apart from being interesting and educational, it got me thinking about 21st century marketing. A DVD is now a disposable piece of…
Read More Marketing politicsThe Golden Globes went to the good guys tonight. Lord of the Rings, Lost in Translation, and Mystic River all won in the film categories, while Angels in America cleaned up in the TV section. There were even a couple of awards for that bizarre British comedy series The Office.
Read More If awards matter…As we approach the release of the Hutton report, and with more and more officials publically voicing the opinion that there were no Iraqi WMDs, Tony Blair has retreated to the position that it’s all about his “integrity”. Screw integrity: here’s what I would ask Blair if I had the chance. “On February 26th 2003,…
Read More The question I'd like to ask Tony BlairI picked up the DVD of About A Boy yesterday. It’s based on the novel by Nick Hornby, one of the most incisive novelists observing contemporary England. For some reason I missed it when it was in the theatres. Anyway, it’s beautiful – and very, very English. It’s easily the best thing Hugh Grant (Will)…
Read More Film du jour: "About A Boy"Driving into work this morning I was listening to the BBC World Service on WBUR, my local PBS radio station. In their response to Bush’s State of the Union speech yesterday , several Democrats had expressed anger that Bush’s policies had left the US isolated. In typical fashion, the BBC decided to follow this up…
Read More "Terrorists cause terrorism"On Saturday I went out and bought three new hardbacks:» Ron Suskind’s “The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill”» Paul Krugman’s “The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century”» David Grossman’s “Death as a Way of Life: Israel Ten Years After Oslo”This was rather…
Read More Book notes(1) Watch the Patriots win the AFC championship. Even though I don’t really care for American football (I far prefer soccer and rugby football), it’s hard not to be a Pats fan right now. (2) Watch Millennium Actress on DVD. A wonderful award-winning anime film from Satoshi Kon.
Read More Things to do on a snowy Sunday in New EnglandAccording to the News section of Laurence Juber’s home page, he’s starting production on a new album for Al Stewart. This is consistent with the pattern noted by Fred on the Al Stewart mailing list: I did predict an ALbum for 2004, based on a long-ago statement by Al that he releases one every US…
Read More Rejoice, part deux