I was recently poking around Prime’s menu of available movies when I stumbled upon ‘Mr. Jones,’ about British journalist Gareth Jones’s groundbreaking reporting on the man-made Ukrainian famine under Stalin during the early ’30s – and his journalistic showdown at the time with NYT Moscow bureau chief Walter Duranty, a loathsome Stalinist apologist. … Though the 2019 film has its flaws, I liked it a lot, as did the NYT’s reviewer and many other critics. I now rank ‘Mr. Jones’ up there with my all-time favorite movies about journalism, after All the President’s Men, Spotlight, His Girl Friday and The Post, among others. … And, yes, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of ‘Mr. Jones’ till this past weekend. Glad I found it.

Re the planned closure of the 50-year-old Clarke’s at Faneuil Hall, I got a kick out of this comment at Universal Hub:

You are not a true Bostonian if you do not have at least one or even a dozen stories of debauchery that started or ended at Clarke’s in the 80’s or 90’s. I wish I could recall them all.

I wouldn’t call them stories of debauchery, but I do recall often meeting friends for after-work drinks at Clarke’s. … I see the Salty Dog is still around at Faneuil Hall. I used to briefly wash dishes there.

Fyi: Before the Clarke’s announcement, the Globe’s Jon Chesto and Shirley Leung, in their excellent debut Power Play newsletter, reported why reviving Faneuil Hall Marketplace isn’t going to be easy.

Update — 4.21.26 — From an old friend and HB reader: “Thanks for memories on Clarke’s. I do remember a couple of 1980s debauchery-free hangouts with you and company.  Those were the days.” … Re the above Globe piece on Faneuil Hall, he writes: 

I think Faneuil Hall presents challenge around identity. It has a dated tourist appeal associated with how the rest of the country sees us (chowdah, lobstah, Harvard/MIT sweatshirts, all set to the tune of the Dropkick Murphys). Do we lean into that image and sharpen it up, as seems to work for cafes/pubs/shops in many parts of old Europe even if you don’t see people strolling about in robes and lederhosen? Or do we ‘reimagine and re-envision’ what Boston means, which Mayor Wu deftly does on her Logan Airport welcome-to-Boston (greetings) – and if you do that, is it truly inclusive and celebratory and not scoldy and woke?

All these years later and people are still fascinated with the long ago behind-the-scenes power struggles at Boston’s secretive Fidelity Investments – Abby Johnson’s showdown with her CEO father Ned, corporate coup attempts, sale rumors, running battles between Abby and then top Fidelity executive Bob Reynolds. It’s all here, courtesy of a WSJ adaptation from Justin Baer’s upcoming book on Fidelity. … The Fidelity infighting two decades ago certainly wasn’t as brutal as the fictional Roy family feuds on HBO’s ‘Succession.’ But it’s still an intriguing tale about the rise, fall and rise of Abby Johnson, that’s for sure. … Is it too early to start speculating about Abby’s own succession plans? She is 64, after all

— The Globe’s Larry Edelman connects the economic dots: “Another week, more proof Massachusetts is losing its edge” (Globe)

— But here’s an economic morale booster: “Spain set to launch a $200 million life sciences fund in Massachusetts” (Globe)

— At the very least they need to lower the required numbers: “Boston City Councilors Pitch Nixing Parking Requirements” (B&T)

— Well, this is one way to achieve a merger: “Boston law firm shuts down as final attorneys join Connecticut rival” (BBJ) 

— A product of a very thin party bench: “GOP candidate for lieutenant governor recently owed thousands in unpaid taxes, records show” (WBUR)

— Because it’s a real accent, not a Hollywood accent: “Why Is Everyone Wicked Obsessed With This Boston Globe Reporter?” (NYT)

— There’s a lot of taxpayer money invested in this local company: “The best available option:’ Battery firm valued at over $1B files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy” (BBJ)

— The phrase ‘too good to be true’ does come to mind: “The Great Ozempic Experiment” (NYT)

The WSJ has two good stories today on Pentagon weapons procurement — the first on how military brass have approached major manufacturers about boosting weapons productivity and the second on billionaire Steve Feinberg’s push to both increase and reform defense spending. As the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran have shown, the U.S. procurement system isn’t exactly geared for quick and affordable replenishment of depleted weapon stocks, thus the push for reforms. …
Reading the Journal pieces, I was reminded of two YouTube videos I recently watched on German engineers’ reaction when they tested captured American Sherman tanks and Jeeps during WWII.* The Germans couldn’t believe how simple, pragmatic and reliable they were – and America’s ability to produce them en masse. Hopefully, the Pentagon is thinking along these same simple, pragmatic and reliable lines today as it attempts to transform its procurement system.

* I’m a fan of Mark Felton’s YouTube channel and other military-history sites, where I found the two above Sherman and Jeep videos after recently reading yet-another procurement-related story. They’re not the type of videos I watch every day, but definitely now and then.

Sen. Ed Markey may be ‘immensely popular’ among the Dem base in Massachusetts, the Globe reports, citing the latest Suffolk/Globe poll showing the incumbent senator comfortably ahead of primary challenger Seth Moulton. But always remember that Democrats make up only about 26 percent of enrolled voters in Massachusetts – and a faction representing roughly half that amount (13 percent of the overall electorate, using back-of-the-envelope calculations) will hand the octogenarian Markey another six-year term because the Republican party in this state is a joke and winning the Dem primary is what it’s all about in most elections in Massachusetts. … What a system, huh? … 

More on our glorious primary-election system here. 

Update – 4.16.26 – Here are the full results from the Suffolk/Globe poll. … Gov. Healey’s job-approval numbers look pretty strong.

Update II – 4.19.26 – The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld has also noticed the strong Healey numbers.

It would be an even messier affair for Democrats in the U.S. But Mark Carney in Canada has shown it’s possible to move a party to the center and become a majority party in the process. From the NYT:

Even if it has been messy, Mr. Carney has now completed the remaking of the Liberal Party as his own. He has moved it rightward to the political center and turned it into a ‘big-tent’ that includes a motley crew of progressives, environmentalists, social conservatives, former bankers, like himself, and others.

“People are quite happy with this purple version of a Liberal Party,” said Shachi Kurl, president at the Angus Reid Institute, a nonpartisan political research group. “It’s pragmatism, a business-minded ‘let’s get on with it.”

Our primary system in the U.S. makes this unlikely here. But it’s nice to dream.

Update – 4.16.26 – At the Globe, John Halpin and Ruy Teixeira say they’ve tried to push the Democratic Party to the center — and failed. … The two cofounded the now defunct Liberal Patriot.

Update II — 4.16.26 — Contrarian Boston’s Scott Van Voorhis reports that Seth Moulton is trying to stitch together his own motley crew of supporters leading up to the state Democratic Party convention. Establishment Dems, i.e. Markey backers, are apparently freaking out.

No sooner had I read the Atlantic’s new article ‘The Looming College-enrollment Death Spiral’ than a message popped up on my screen via the BBJ: ‘Financial crisis forces Hampshire College to shutter.’ … And more closures are on the way, possibly (though hopefully not) Anna Maria College (WBUR). The demographics for small regional colleges are just brutal these days, particularly for those in the Northeast and Midwest, as the Atlantic reports.

Fyi: The Atlantic references this 2024 paper from the Federal Reserve, titled ‘Predicting College Closures and Financial Distress.’ Things have only gotten worse since its release.

Fyi II: I included the following WSJ article (“The Small Private Colleges Dying in a Winner-Take-All University Marketplace”) in last Friday’s Headlines of Interest. Vermont’s St. Michael’s is yet another endangered regional college.

Fyi III: Here’s a web site that tracks college closures.

First, Malden. Next, South Hadley? The WSJ has a big story on how a 50 percent property tax hike proposal in South Hadley is “tearing this Massachusetts town apart.” And they’re saying the South Hadley vote may well be a ‘canary in the coal mine’ as other local governments, here and across the nation, grapple with huge deficits caused by inflation and the end of pandemic-era spending, as the Journal reports. … 

I’m definitely sensing widespread anger and frustration out there about rising property taxes. It’s a major affordability issue for many, right up there with rising gas and food prices etc. … 

I know there’s a lot of reasons for local governments’ budget shortfalls. But one largely underappreciated factor, as I’ve noticed in my own neck of the 495 woods , is how young white-collar professionals who can no longer afford homes in eastern Mass. are increasingly moving into previously somewhat affordable towns in central and western Mass. – and expecting towns to up their school-system games and budgets, ASAP. There’s an unspoken culture clash at work. It’s not just parents vs non-parents and young vs old. It’s also more affluent vs non-affluent and often college grads vs non-college grads.

Update — 4.15.26 – The canary has sung. From Western Mass News: “Voters reject tax increases in South Hadley override vote.” …

So Rachael Rollins thinks everyone is picking on her because she’s a woman and because of those two pesky fed reports that people keep bringing up whenever they talk about her new Suffolk DA candidacy, as the Globe and Herald report. But she really shouldn’t feel picked on. She was never criminally charged with anything, after all, unlike Tania Fernandes Anderson, David Nangle, Dianne Wilkerson, Sal DiMasi, Tom Finneran, Charles Flaherty, etc. Now they were picked on. Legitimately so, based on their convictions, guilty pleas and/or failed appeals, but they were nevertheless picked on, damn it. Rollins got off light by comparison.

Speaking of Tania, Dave, Dianne, Sal, Tom and Chuck etc., did you know Wikipedia has an entire entry on Massachusetts politicians who were picked on over the years? It’s true. Here it is: “Massachusetts politicians convicted of corruption.” Strangely, Finneran and Flaherty aren’t listed. Must be a technicality. But no James Michael Curley, arguably the most picked on Massachusetts politician in history? There’s a double standard here somewhere!

Anyway, back to mildly picked on Rachael. I have this awful feeling she’s going to be one of those pols who just won’t go away. She has that will to power, that sense of righteousness mixed with shamelessness, the ability to turn negative liabilities into victimhood positives. She also needs the job. I give her a 50-50 chance of winning in September. 

Update — 4.13.26 – From the Globe’s Joan Vennochi: “It isn’t sexist to say it: Rachael Rollins messed up.”