Book Review: A Feast of Speeches

May 08, 2020

Review of: Transatlantic Rhetoric – Speeches from the American Revolution to the Suffragettes by Tom Wright For more than 10 years, Tom Wright of the University of Sussex has concentrated his scholarly energies on …

Of Poets and Speechwriters

Jul 22, 2020

Review of: Dispatches from the Republic of Letters – 50 Years of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, edited by Daniel Simon (release date: Oct 20, 2020) Over a long career as …

A Union of Vitality in a World of Fragility

Sep 16, 2020

Dear President, Honourable Members, One of the most courageous minds of our times, Andrei Sakharov – a man so admired by this House – always spoke of his unshakeable belief in …

Speechwriting, now!

Sep 16, 2020

From a 2015 post on my personal blog, Writing Boots. —DM My pals were meeting me at the corner tavern in 15 minutes, when my wife came to me needing …

Not Fade Away: A Speech Analysis

Mar 03, 2021

Editor’s Note: Rather than reproducing Former President Trump’s Sunday CPAC speech (see transcript here)—we’re running this “Rhetorical Recap” analysis by our resident speech analyst Michael Cornfield, associate professor of political …

It’s Time to Wake Up! We Want to Revive the UN

Sep 28, 2021

Dear Mr. President, dear heads of state, government, ladies and gentlemen! It’s time to wake up! This is the appeal of the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres, to the world leaders, …

Bonfire of the Inanities

Jan 19, 2022

If you didn’t read “CEOs Were Our Heroes … At Least According to Them” on the front page of the business section of Sunday’s New York Times, I understand. Reading the …

Tackling Illegal Immigration

Apr 20, 2022

For centuries, our United Kingdom has had a proud history of welcoming people from overseas, including many fleeing persecution. My own great-grandfather came from Turkey in fear of his life, …