ALL BY OURSELVES. It’s been said that British foreign policy since WWII is animated by the principle of “figuring out what the United States wants, and doing it before asked.” No longer: Tony Blair has announced that the Brits will eventually be pulling out of Iraq.

President Bush has now exhausted the patience of our last (or, rather, first) global ally. And that means it is time to cue the Eric Carmen‘s appearance on Dick Clark‘s American Bandstand. (Worth watching just to see Carmen’s collar-up jeans outfit and horrible lip-syncing.)

—Tom Schaller

Ann Friedman is a columnist for New York magazine’s website and for the Columbia Journalism Review. She also makes pie charts for The Hairpin and Los Angeles magazine. Her work has appeared in ELLE, Esquire, Newsweek, The Observer, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and many other outlets. She lives in Los Angeles, but travels so often the best place to find her is online at annfriedman.com. Follow @annfriedman