To outsiders the world of the English boarding school can occasionally seem incomprehensibly foreign: the esoteric slang, the strangely archaic routines and the flamboyantly Edwardian dress codes tending to elicit amusement and derision in equal measure. These things can be, and generally are, seen as essentially harmless. They are throwbacks to bygone eras, of interest only to the eccentric antiquarian seduced by these pockets of Victorian idiosyncrasy which Britain has managed to preserve over the years with little but an occasional swipe from an embittered Guardian columnist. The cream of English boarding schools live on in their quirky outdated grandeur across the country, keeping themselves to themselves and their peculiar rituals intact. Scattered across the English countryside, self-sufficient and withdrawn into themselves like monasteries, each one is an island. Even exceptions like Harrow, which has now been swallowed by the relentless march of London’s urban sprawl, stil ...

With collapsing economies, a plethora of bankruptcies, and grumbling citizens as bailout packages are announced across the Euro Zone, 2010 was hardly a giant leap forward for the EU and the prospects of European integration. Indeed, so worried were some about a potentially imminent collapse of European unity that The Economist felt it timely and prudent to splatter the words ‘Don’t Do It!’ across its front page, in response to growing calls for the dismantlement of Euro currency. For Eurosceptics, the year provided unprecedented evidence that the single currency was damaging for individual European nations, and fingers are crossed that if economic integration can be shown to be inherently dangerous, then, despite 2009’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, steps towards full political union will too start to falter, precipitating an inevitable breakdown of the European Project. While Eurosceptics may be licking their lips, for Europhiles and supra-nationalists there has been l ...

The sight of Charlie Gilmour, the step-son of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, holding aloft a red flag bearing the words ‘Revolution’ in a pose consciously echoing Delacroix’ Marianne did a lot to dissuade those undecided on the issue of tuition fee rises to reject the protests, even if they remained sympathetic to the protesters cause. This is because Gilmour’s action was the clearest, most unequivocal sign yet that these marches were a magnet for fashionable, middle-class lefties. The proliferation of Barbours, checked shirts and skinny jeans in photos from the previous demonstrations had already made it clear that this was a decidedly middle-class debate. Yet it was the shameless self-promotion of Gilmour’s approach to protesting which hammered the truth home: whilst many were certainly involved in the protests with sincerity and commitment, for a large number of students they were the perfect vehicle for furthering their trendy left-wing credentials. Identity crisis? Po ...

According to the polls, support for President Obama across America has now dropped firmly below fifty percent. This seems odd to to some outside observers, given his string of legislative successes in the first 18 months of office including, his bank bailout package, his economic stimulus package, and, above all, his healthcare reform. Disregarding other factors, such as growing disillusionment with his foreign policy (Afghanistan in particular), his conduct during events like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, debates over the building of a mosque near Ground Zero, and the intractable issue of Guantanamo Bay, what seems to frustrate US voters above all else is his attitude towards government and the power of the state. At a time of economic crisis people become skeptical, indeed cynical, of the worth of government action and sometimes government itself. Government (above even such culprits as casino banking) becomes the focus of popular wrath. In the current crisis, America's mas ...