Year: 2016

Attack, Attack, Attack

After a period out in the cold, President Trump’s controversial adviser Steve Bannon is apparently back in the inner circle. The piece contains illuminating details, including the assertion that Bannon owns a portrait representing his own face on Napoleon’s body – a gift from Nigel Farage.

Homer and Harold

Harold Israel and Homer Cummings were from very different backgrounds and met when the latter was the state’s attorney in the former’s 1924 murder trial. Cummings proceeded to deliver a performance that “will live in the annals as a standard by which other prosecutors will be judged.” More remarkable even than that is the enduring involvement they had in each other’s lives. The story of the trial was noteworthy enough to be made into a film, but the story of their lifelong association is just as remarkable.

Behemoth, bully, thief: how the English language is taking over the planet

Far from being under threat as is sometimes claimed, the English language’s global dominance appears to be stronger than ever. Not only is it on a user acquisition spree that would make any tech startup jealous, but it has also turned into a “net exporter” of words, infiltrating other languages with Anglicisms. This piece examines these and other ways in which it is asserting its position as the first “hypercentral” language.