More Hastings, Less Speed

We were never quite sure why Max Hastings ended up as a semi-regular columnist at the Guardian. Max, a former Telegraph and Evening Standard editor, would seem to be an odd fit at the Guardian, not so much for his views, which were, as this entry points out, somewhat at odds with his right-leaning former proprietors, but for his interests, which run to military history and the countryside. Both capture a relatively small portion of the attention of the average Guardian reader.

Which is why Max seems to be having so much fun there, taking pops at fellow Guardian columnists for the relish with which they support windfarms and new house development on England's fair fields. Max' thing, much like George Monbiot, and environmentalist, and fellow Guardian writer, with whom he shares a few beliefs, is to try and maintain the most reasonable countenance possible while seriously sticking it to the man. Max seems to realise it here, pausing mid-rant to calm down, but still deciding that Polly Toynbee is motivated by an extreme hatred of Tory-voting rural folk.

Also from the UK Sundays, first we discover that the foreign secretary is a potty-mouthed crybaby, now the home secretary is a home-wrecking shagger. Cor.

Back to Brookie for a moment. We were on our way to Dumbo yesterday (ABC Carpet & Home and ONE MEEELION hipster galleries, if you must know), and had the misfortune to walk through the oh-so-futuristic "Metrotech Center". This, dear Park Slope residents, is what Mr. Bruce Ratner plans to build on your northern border. While the NBA has approved Brucie's plan to buy the New Jersey Nets, and move it to one of the few parts of the outer boroughs that wouldn't benefit from a gigantic stadium, there is still a bit of fighting yet to do.