I wrote for the The New York Times on how a church beset by institutional decline and internal conflict retains a surprising resonance in American life nytimes.com/2024/08/14/opi…

“Historicism...was a cop-out.” Grateful to Kit Wilson for a shockingly lucid essay on Hegel, tonality and other forms of SEO-bait libertiesjournal.com/articles/music…

The case for Anglo-optimism. Not wholly convincing but worth a read.

Obamacore, Ubercore: rosselliotbarkan.com/p/obamacore-ub…

G is for Greenwich ----- 'London from Greenwich Park' (first exhibited 1809) by JMW Turner (Tate Britain)

According to the NAO, “schools constructed through PFI schemes were 40 percent more expensive, and hospitals a staggering 70 percent more expensive, than those constructed through public financing.” Grace Blakeley on the mooted return of PFI: tribunemag.co.uk/2024/08/buildi…

Christianity in 2024: cultural influence, political decline. Me for First Things: firstthings.com/web-exclusives…

"Art needs creativity, and creativity is about sharing. It is a call to others to see the world as the artist sees it. That is why we find beauty in the naïve art of children. Children are not giving us ideas in the place of creative images. Nor are they wallowing in ugliness.

"I don’t think economics and finance pundits, and even civil society organisations, have fully grasped how big a role private finance is going to play in delivering Labour’s programme for government." linkedin.com/pulse/new-pfi-… It's not pretty. Astute piece by Mick McAteer.

Cultural Influence, Political Decline firstthings.com/web-exclusives… "This year’s presidential election pits a leading harasser of the Church against a man who talks to Christians as though they were kindergarten pupils."

Last plug for this, on how Christianity traded political importance for cultural influence: firstthings.com/web-exclusives…

Perhaps the strangest policy story I have ever reported on. How Labour’s imposition of VAT will endanger the smallest, poorest, most threadbare schools in the country: spectator.co.uk/article/religi…

spectator.co.uk/article/religi… The Spectator Dan Hitchens

I've long argued that income and wealth inequalities disfigure our country and the rich should pay more in tax. But I was very uneasy about Labour's tax raid on private schools. This, by Dan Hitchens, has confirmed my belief that it is a very bad policy. spectator.co.uk/article/religi…

‘Fifteen per cent of families who use independent schools, around 90,000 of them, have below average household incomes. I have not seen any commentator on this topic acknowledge this fact.’ spectator.co.uk/article/religi…

Fair play to Labour. Both the disabilities minister and the health secretary have now warned against assisted suicide legislation: