Monthly Archives: May 2004

Libeskind and the Freedom Tower

We can officially assume now, I think, that Daniel Libeskind and the Freedom Tower are barely connected any more, let alone in any kind of one-designed-the-other relationship. My guess is that when all is said and done, the name and … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | 4 Comments

Postrel responds

Virginia Postrel has responded to my post of last week, on the subject of her take on federal highway spending. Basically, she doesn’t believe the numbers being bandied around Washington on the subject of how many jobs are created when … Continue reading

Posted in Finance | 4 Comments

For Some, the Blogging Never Stops

TO celebrate four years of of writing about blogs, Kevin McKenna, the editor of the New York Times Circuits section, and his deputy, Henry Fountain, recently spent a week working wirelessly from Bryant Park. Early on the morning of their … Continue reading

Posted in Humour | 14 Comments

Postrel, highways and jobs

One of the great things about blogs written by professional journalists is that they often contain a lot more information than gets printed. Newspaper columns, by their very nature, have to be a certain length and accessible to a wide … Continue reading

Posted in Finance | Comments Off on Postrel, highways and jobs

Housing bubbles

Is the New York (indeed, the US) housing bubble going to burst? A look at the situation in the UK would suggest that it isn’t. Interest rates have already started rising there – but a new report says that 25 … Continue reading

Posted in Finance | 5 Comments

Ethics lapse at Time Inc

The blogosphere is all atwitter this afternoon about an article Greg Lindsay wrote about Nick Denton, and Denton’s response. Blogfight! If you want to see Lindsay’s response to Denton (and me), it’s below. The name-calling is fun: Denton calls Lindsay … Continue reading

Posted in Media | 1 Comment

Timeless art

Is there such a thing as timeless beauty? I’m a fan of built-in obsolescence in art, but at the same time many great artistic creations can and have retained all their power and beauty for centuries. Look at Piero della … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | Comments Off on Timeless art

Beleaguered editors

I readily admit that I live in an anglophone bubble, but I think it’s probably fair to say that Piers Morgan is the highest-profile newspaper editor in the world. Make that was the highest-profile newspaper editor in the world: He … Continue reading

Posted in Media | Comments Off on Beleaguered editors

Hoolie

It is, as the title suggests, blowing an absolute hoolie outside and I fear I have been over-romanticising Antarctica in my latest scrawls. I have not seen the sun for a week. I have been outside, for more than five … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Globalisation’s commandments

Lance Knobel lists today Martin Wolf’s "ten commandments of globalisation," saying that "they make great good sense." I disagree: 1. The market economy is the only arrangement capable of generating sustained increases in prosperity, providing the underpinnings of liberal democracy … Continue reading

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The New York Times magazine

It is with no small degree of sadness that I have to report the death of the New York Times magazine. When I first arrived in New York, it was a vibrant and interesting book, and its editor, Adam Moss, … Continue reading

Posted in Media | 3 Comments

Sundown

I’ve experienced a new dawn today. Seriously – my own Spring has sprung. I’m so relieved. Yesterday, the sun set for the last time until August and I think, in retrospect, that I have been feeling a bit down lately. … Continue reading

Posted in Rhian in Antarctica | 2 Comments

A waste of valuable space

The front page of the Sunday New York Times is probably the most valuable journalistic real estate in the world. It’s where the Times puts its biggest investigative pieces, in the knowledge that people are much more likely to have … Continue reading

Posted in Media | 1 Comment

Conductors under attack

First Simon Rattle, and now James Levine: it’s been a bad week for hugely-admired conductors being sniped at in the press, all the more so for me personally, since these are both at the very top of my list of … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | Comments Off on Conductors under attack