The Joy of Six 1404

Arthur Snell says the post-American world order is being created in front of our eyes.

"A Liberal choice exists, one that involves cooperation with other countries and sharing burdens. Labour seems so frightened of its own voters that it dare not even admit that this choice exists. Liberals should be braver." David Howarth has noticed the absence of Liberal (and Liberal Democrat) voices in the small boats debate.

Alexandra Hall Hall on the growing threat to US democracy: "A US President can declare a national emergency at any time, without approval from Congress, and without any legal definition as to what constitutes 'an emergency'. ... Trump could in theory use his powers to control the internet, take over tv channels, or freeze the assets of American citizens deemed to be 'hostile foreign actors', without judicial oversight."

"Rather than engage seriously with the reality of English sentiment and, yes, resentment, both Conservative and Labour governments have engaged in the serial ad hocery of constitutional change. They’ve played a never-ending game of constitutional Tetris in which plans for so-called English devolution are constantly made and remade. This process has, in turn, become a substitute for serious thinking about political voice and democratic influence within the state." Ailsa Henderson and Richard Wyn Jones argue that Nigel Farage is benefiting from mainstream politicians' habit of treating England as an afterthought.

"The zither score, by Anton Karas, is a masterstroke, because it centers every scene, regardless of its emotional temperature, within a wry and knowing acceptance of how hard life can be—and how tough, philosophical and willing to take a joke you’ll need to be if you’re to have any hope of getting through it. It’s the musical equivalent of the serenely smug yet  irresistible grin on black marketeer Harry Lime’s face when it’s revealed by light from an upstairs window." Matt Zoller Seitz celebrates the sensual pleasures of The Third Man.

JacquiWine reads A House and its Head by Ivy Compton Burnett - "widely considered to be one of the most original British modernist writers of the early 20th century".