- David Lodge, one of MaudNewton.com’s most admired literary critics, surveys Britain’s current political landscape for American readers. He admits to initial ambivalence about the war on Iraq (which I unequivocally opposed), fails to make direct mention of the recent smoking gun tied to Downing Street, and supports domestic policies criticized by many U.K. progressives. So take his opinions with a grain of salt. But if you’ve been meaning to brush up on the basics of Britain’s three-party system, there are worse places to start.
- Kurt Vonnegut takes exception to lawyers’ use of his 1961 story “Harrison Bergeron” to advocate disenfranchisement of Kansas schoolchildren from impoverished neighborhoods.
- Says Jessa Crispin: “Boondocks even approaches the line of good/bad taste, and it gets yanked out of newspapers across the country. B.C. has a strip about evolution being ridiculous, no one blinks. (Although to be fair, it’s probably because no one reads that stupid thing.)”