Service Without a Smile

Like several other countries in the West, Britain has given up on the sordid and vulgar activity of making things and instead gone in for the more refined and sophisticated life of service industries. In the case of Britain, however, there is a particular problem: The people are not very good at providing service, at least in such enterprises as hotels and restaurants. They do not know how to do it themselves and will not learn from others. I recently stayed in a British-run hotel in the south of England. It could have been grand, having once been, I imagine, the mansion of some Victorian ...

The Breakers, Palm Beach

The Grand Hotel Preservation Society

It seems all of the changes taking place these days are for the worse. I am hardly a Miss Havisham to say it would be better that some things"€”especially good hotels"€”remain ...

Obama’s Remaking of America

Anyone who believes America’s culture wars are behind her should have started out Friday reading The Washington Times. The headlines on the three top stories on page one ...

Hunter S. Thompson

The Second Revolution in Menswear

One of 2011’s hottest trends is middle-aged pundits announcing that compared to the good old days when they were spry, nothing much is changing anymore. Or at least nothing ...

What Is It We Wish to Conserve?

A conservative’s task in society is “to preserve a particular people, living in a particular place during a particular time.” Jack Hunter, in a review of this ...

The Dignity of Sloth

Did you see this news story the other day? An online game has helped determine the structure of an enzyme that could pave the way for anti-AIDS drugs. The game, called Foldit, ...

The Creeping Pink Cloud

Rupert Murdoch’s New York bullhorn, also known as the New York Post, has recently been jubilating each time a Republican in the state legislature comes over to the side of gay ...

The High Cost of Free Medical Care

When questioning modern myths, one feels like Don Quixote charging the windmills. Nonetheless it’s time to demythologize the British National Health Service, which evidently ...


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