Feb
16
2009

URLs du Jour

2009-02-16

  • A sign of the times:

    A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to George W Bush from the Government's art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back.

    The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush's tenure.

    But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: "Thanks, but no thanks."

    "Do you have anything in a Chamberlain?"

  • I've been a Virginia Postrel fan ever since she was editing Reason magazine. Recently she fought breast cancer; among the weapons used was an expensive drug, Herceptin. She has a great article about it in the current issue of Atlantic, and it's also online. The opening is a grabber:

    If I lived in New Zealand, I'd be dead.

    That's the lead my editor wanted me to write, and I have to admit it's great. Alas (for this column, at least), it's not exactly true. But neither is it false. And the ways in which it's partly true matter greatly, not just to me or to New Zealanders but to anyone who might get cancer or care about someone who does.

    What follows is an interesting discussion of how government-run healthcare works. As they say: coming soon to a country near you.

  • The good folks at National Review have compiled the 25 best conservative movies. And supplied 25 also rans. I've seen 20 of the 25 best, 16 of the also rans; I thought I'd do better. How about you?

    Their number one is The Lives of Others; and, yeah, it's really good. I blogged about it here.

  • And, well, this is Pun Salad:


Last Modified 2012-10-08 7:52 PM EDT