Saturday assorted links

1. Lawrence Mishel is retiring.

2. John Cochrane on taxing university endowments.

3. Why did everything take so long?

4. The ten best history books of the last ten years?

5. “Margaret Thatcher’s aversion to pandas revealed by declassified papers.

6. “The Queen owns all the swans in Britain.  Or, more accurately: Any unclaimed mute swan in open waters in England and Wales is hers if she wants it.”  Link here, noisy video at that link.

The piece has some excellent sentences, including: “For 700 years swan-related royal duties were handled by the Keeper of the Swans. In 1993, a major shakeup in royal swan bureaucracy split the position into two offices: Swan Marker and Swan Warden. Since then the roles have been held, respectively, by David Barber and Chris Perrins.”

And: “It’s not clear how David Barber got his job. A German reporter asks him outright; he smiles and says mysteriously, “I can’t really answer that, can I.” He owns a boat business, he says, when pressed for further details. He is not an ornithologist.”

And: “Peacocks don’t lay eggs. Peahens do,” the man says, settling smugly back into his seat. “Everybody falls into that trap.” She doesn’t push him overboard, but she should.”

And: “One of the most famous swans in Britain was Mr. Asbo, who conducted a campaign of terror against boaters on Cambridge’s River Cam from 2009 to 2012. (Asbo is British shorthand for an “anti-social behavior order,” a misdemeanor handed out for loutish behavior.) “

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