December 2019 Issue

FROM THE MAGAZINE

December 2019

‘A Democratic party a little less obsessed with digging around for presidential conspiracies and a little more eager to call out Trump for bad housekeeping might have a better chance of defeating him in 2020.’

The origins of ‘whilst’

It started off by displaying what is called the adverbial genitive

By Dot Wordsworth

From the Magazine

Detroit’s comeback is a myth

The economy booms, the construction cranes jam the skylines while the homeless set up camp on the sidewalks and bathe in the public fountains

By Charlie LeDuff

From the Magazine

A bridge too far

I am a very demanding partner and, sometimes, unpleasant competition

By Daniella Greenbaum Davis

From the Magazine

Education

The real reason for college food fights

Scarcely a month passes without a food-related scandal causing uproar on campus

By Toby Young

From the Magazine

Politics

Trump vs the cities

Progressive leadership is destroying urban America

By Chadwick Moore

From the Magazine

Washington in winter

The city is quiescent if you compare it to London during Brexit, or New York or Rome during anything

By Christopher Caldwell

From the Magazine

What a drag: dress-up used to be fun. Now it is far too serious

Gender-bending as a good time is hardly done anymore. The rules are rigid

By Karol Markowicz

From the Magazine

Politics

Who likes Mike?

For the Democratic patriciate, a Bloomberg candidacy rests on the idea of a return to normalcy

By Jacob Heilbrunn

From the Magazine

Spectator Editorial

Forever in our debt

To be overspending to the extent that Trump is doing is to invite disaster

By Spectator Editorial

From the Magazine

Europe

Britain is dangerously close to having an overtly anti-American prime minister

What would that mean for the so-called special relationship?

By Ross Clark

From the Magazine

Politics

The Ukraine blame game

There was never anything in the great Ukrainian quid pro quo. It was props and stagecraft

By Roger Kimball

From the Magazine

Politics

GOP West: could Republicans have an Arizona advantage?

Tolerating illegal immigration might not be the winning issue Democrats have long assumed it to be

By Daniel McCarthy

From the Magazine

Internet

OK zoomer

It’s not us baby boomers who are the problem

By Cosmo Landesman

From the Magazine