Our colleague, Manan Ahmed (a.k.a., Sepoy), is in the UK. You can meet him on Wednesday evening at London's Lord John Russell Pub. On his return, he promises a response to both: Martin Amis,"The Age of Horrorism," Guardian, 10 September, Parts One, Two, & Three; and Dave Davisson's Patahistory Manifesto. He may want to add Niall Ferguson's"Empires With Expiration Dates," Foreign Policy, September/ October, to that list.

Meanwhile, his guests, lapata and farangi, are occupying the time at Chapati Mystery. Responding to Charles McGrath's"At $9.95 a Page, You Expect Poetry?" NY Times, 10 September, lapata explores south Asian"Term Paper Sites Unveiled!" and farangi gives us"Truthizing Fictions," a hard look at the Clinton administration. We hope they sweep up the peanut shells and wash up that sink full of dirty dishes for Sepoy's return. Wouldn't want him to face a messy blog when he gets home.

P. S. You really shouldn't miss Gene Weingarten's"The Bush League," Washington Post, 10 September, in which our guy, George, is compared with Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Warren Harding.