Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover

Margaret Thatcher: Convicted of Black-and-White Thinking

April 9, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
thatcher-black-and-white

Among the handful of quotes that surface repeatedly in the obituaries on Margaret Thatcher is her self-description not as “a consensus politician or a pragmatic politician, but a conviction politician.” Numerous stories published since her death Monday have used the word “conviction” in their headlines or as the organizing principle in describing her life. Paragraph-length encomiums from Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, and even Meryl Streep all feature the word “conviction” as one of the Iron Lady’s qualities. In 2009, University of Connecticut ... Read More

More like this: Politics, The 101
Tags: ,

The Many British Invasions

November 5, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

America's reputation is rather poor in many parts of the world, arguably due to our propensity to protect our interests through the use of military might. But while Pakistanis may be shaking their fists at our drones, it appears that, when it comes to imposing our will via force, we have nothing on the Brits. "British have invaded nine out of ten countries" reads the headline on a story in the London Daily Telegraph, posted online over the weekend. It reports that a new analysis of "the histories of the almost 200 countries in the world found only 22 which have never experienced an invasion ... Read More

More like this: The 101
Tags: ,

Tilting at Turbines

April 16, 2009 • By • 1 Comment

The morning was clear and cold, with frost on the church steeple and the cemetery grass. I had a quick English breakfast at a white-cloth table, in my wetsuit, and drove to Newnham, a village on the Severn River in Gloucestershire, parking near the White Hart Inn. Glinting brown water stretched at least a hundred yards from the inn to cow pastures on the opposite side. The current moved with a placid, lazy force to my right. Across the road behind me, a pasture of sheep freezing their tails off bleated from different hapless positions on the grass. "It's a very slow wave," an old farmer ... Read More

More like this: Environment, Magazine Feature Story, May-June 2009, Science & Environment
Tags: , , , , ,

Britain’s UFOs (Uncovered Factual Objects) Sighted

June 20, 2008 • By • Leave a Comment

Over the past 30 years, details of British UFO sightings were nervously reported, carefully filed away and instantly rendered inaccessible to the public. That has all changed in the last month, thanks in great part to the efforts of a small group of UFO researchers led by professor and journalist David Clarke. On May 14, the U.K. government began releasing its entire collection of UFO reports — 160 files that include more than 11,000 sightings — to the National Archives, a move made in response to the hard-fought campaign by Clarke and his colleagues that hinged on Britain's 2000 ... Read More

More like this: Science, Science & Environment
Tags: , , ,