Jeremy Corbyn, in a drawing from Standpoint, via
Recent links of note:
Why I’ve finally given up on the Left
Nick Cohen, The Spectator
How to understand the seemingly inexplicable rise of Leftist bogeyman Jeremy “Jez” Corbyn? More on that from Jeremy Black in a forthcoming issue of The New Criterion. In the meantime, Nick Cohen writes why he’s now, finally, done with the Left. As Cohen puts it, “Jeremy Corbyn did not become Labour leader because his friends in the Socialist Workers party organised a Leninist coup . . . He won with the hearty and freely given support of ‘decent’ Labour members.” When the Left supports “movements it would once have denounced as racist, imperialist and fascistic,” it’s high time to cut and run. Welcome aboard the good ship, Nick.
In Theory
Christine Emba, The Washington Post
Congratulations are in order for Christine Emba, my predecessor in the role of Hilton Kramer Fellow. Last week marked the birth of Christine’s new blog for The Washington Post, “In Theory,” which hopes to “spark intelligent debate around a wide range of topics.” Cheers, Christine.
Discord Breaks Out at Carnegie Hall
Gregory Zuckerman and Jennifer Smith, The Wall Street Journal
That noise you hear at the corner of 57th and 7th? It’s not a fine strings arrangement; rather, it’s a boardroom quarrel. Carnegie Hall is in turmoil, with new chairman of the board of trustees, Ronald Perelman “serv[ing] notice that he may be prepared to bring the bare-knuckle tactics of a corporate raider into the genteel precinct of one of America’s most august cultural institutions.” Accusing the Hall’s director, Clive Gillinson, of “improprieties” and “poor oversight,” Perelman is certainly making his presence felt. We’ll be watching this one closely.
The Art of the Broad: A Consensus Collection
Eric Gibson, The Wall Street Journal
This week frequent New Criterion contributor Eric Gibson weighs in on the newly opened Los Angeles museum, The Broad. The opening of a new museum should be cause for celebration but that is not the case here. While “the great American collectors of modern art . . . compel our attention today because each possessed an aesthetic outlook unique unto themselves,” the Broad’s collection is “familiar . . . numbingly so,” with “no artist or movement here that hasn’t already had abundant exposure.” Head over to the Journal for Eric’s full take.
From our pages:
Beach bums
Bruce Cole
On “BEACH” at the National Building Museum, the Eisenhower Memorial, and the end of James Billington’s tenure as Librarian of Congress.