Classic Decline

New York America’s diminished intellectualism has made this interminable election period as boring as a Nat Rothschild Corfu party for respectable folk. Part of the problem is that presidential candidates try ‘to reach out to younger voters’, hardly an admirable goal as demographic ...

Kiss and Tell

The story so far: Old Blighty has been hit by a scandal of major proportions. People in high positions met in princely places and discussed matters not supposed to be talked about even on a yacht. In brief: Nat Rothschild, son of Lord (Jacob) Rothschild, is a partner in certain ventures of Oleg ...

Even Billionaires Get the Blues

NEW YORK—“Oligarchs brace for a downturn,” screams a New York business headline, a fact that sends me rushing to buy hankies, now selling at a premium at every corner store. Bloomberg News calculates that the richest 25 Russian crooks on the Forbes list have lost a collective $230 billion ...

You’re Endorsing Who?

One of my favorite moments in my long life was election nite 2004, chez Bill Buckley, where I had spent every presidential election since 1972. Henry Kissinger approached me and asked—referring to the magazine Pat Buchanan and I had launched two years previous—whom I’d be voting ...

Dodgy Brooklyn

Peggy Noonan was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and is a graceful essayist and good Catholic lady who happens to be a political conservative. I haven’t seen her in years but sometimes we exchange emails. She has written a book about how badly Americans need Patriotic Grace, the title of her ...

Pickup Lines

In No Man of her Own, a 1932 black-and-white beauty, Clark Gable, playing a big-city shark tries to pick up a small-town librarian, the divine Carole Lombard, who was to become his wife later on. “Do your eyes bother you?” asks Clark. “No, not at all,” answers Carole. ...

Obama, the Art of Political Lying, and Sarah Palin’s Legs

I usually find these debates demeaning, because they’re not exactly Lincoln vs. Douglas. But I must admit that in the debate with Biden, I found Sarah Palin’s legs absolutely wonderful… <object width=“425” height=“350”> <embed ...

Unhappy Days are Here Again

NEW YORK—The war on terror, as the most inarticulate man ever to inhabit the White House calls it, has now lasted longer than World War II. And take it from Taki, it’s not going away, not in my lifetime, that’s for sure. Insurgencies have a tendency to wear out their enemy and eventually ...

In Praise of Older Women

When I read that actor Robert Wagner had had a four-year-long affair with Barbara Stanwyck back in 1952, my first reaction was that of envy and more envy. Wagner is 77 this year and Babs would have been 101, so when they were canoodling together he was 22 and she was 47. Excellent. Perfect. Young ...

Bells Are Ringing

The party’s over, it’s time to call it a day. They’ve burst your pretty balloon and taken the moon away. It’s time to wind up the masquerade. Just make your mind up, the piper must be paid. The party’s over, the candles flicker and dim. You danced and dreamed through the night, It ...