New York Letter
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'We’re thinking of moving to Kentucky,' an old friend confessed recently, such a move from Manhattan likely to lift his child's chances of being admitted to an Ivy League university. It turns out that a rich white kid from poor-as-dirt hillbilly country is a lot more interesting to college admissions officers than a rich white kid from the Upper East SideApril 27, 2023
11 mins
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Progressivess always have trouble with the working poor. They prefer the kind of abject Dickensian poverty that can be ministered to, the kind that calls out for boldly intrusive policies and new government interventions. But poor people getting by, making do? That would be an affront to the progressive sensibility, which always requires a villainNovember 25, 2022
9 mins
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People only stay at the Yale Club in Manhattan when they’re looking for a cheap but respectable option—something they can charge to their membership and, if necessary, take several months to pay off. Well it's booked solid, which is what poker players call a 'tell'. And what it tells you is something very straightforward: tough times aheadOctober 25, 2022
10 mins
The latest
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The Big Apple has transformed itself from a place of jittery, brittle energies — a place for nicotine-fuelled go-getters and pushy type-A neurotics and in-your-face fuggeddaboutits — into a place where everyone just wants to kick back and, like, chill. Sniff the air, catch that ubiquitous pong of marijuana smoke and part of the reason for the change becomes immediately clearJune 30, 2022
9 mins
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Progressive social scientists, it turned out to the astonishment of none but progressive social scientists, were wrong: crime could go down even if the 'root causes' went unaddressed. New York became a peaceful, liveable city and we all forget about carrying a second, decoy wallet to placate sidewalk bandits. These days in a very bruised Big Apple it's back to the futureMarch 19, 2022
11 mins
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My local coffee shop in Manhattan is two shops in […]June 29, 2021
10 mins
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This is supposed to be a New York letter, but […]
April 29, 2020
10 mins
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The suffocating sense of guilt that afflicts university life has beenwhipped into a cocktail of self-congratulation, on the one hand, and menacing intolerance, on the other. Doubtless it portends many things, but support for liberal education or liberal society, properly understood, is not among themDecember 28, 2015
13 mins
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Muggers are prowling Central Park once more while public nuisances shake down New York's motorists and crime soars. Welcome to the increasingly bruised Big Apple of Mayor Bill de Blasio, his progressive agenda -- and the inevitable resultsJuly 6, 2015
11 mins
