Andrew Roberts, the British author who has been called President Bush's favorite historian, spoke last night to a gathering of Washingtonians.

"Defeat cannot be, and must not be, allowed to be an option in Iraq," said Mr. Roberts, in town to promote the U.S. release of his 700-page book, "A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900."

Intended as a sequel to the four-part history written by Winston Churchill, the book tells the story of how Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and other English-speaking nations have remained allies through four "assaults" in the past century -- two world wars, the Cold War struggle against Soviet communism and, since the September 11 attacks, the conflict with "Islamicist terrorism."

At last night's reception hosted by Allied Capital CEO Bill Walton and American Spectator editor R. Emmett Tyrrell, Mr. Roberts described the current battle against terrorism as "a world-historical struggle." And, while noting that he is himself a supporter of Britain's Tory opposition, Mr. Roberts praised the "moral courage" of Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Earlier yesterday, Mr. Roberts spoke at the Hudson Institute. Today, he will be feted at a VIP luncheon at the White House.

Mr. Roberts' book made news yesterday in Afghanistan after a Taliban suicide bomber struck outside the gate at Bagram Air Force Base, where Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting. As Newsweek's Holly Bailey reported, "When Cheney boarded the plane from the tarmac, he seemed calm and collected, carrying a huge book to his seat" -- Mr. Roberts' book.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times

"Political correctness" is often treated as a joke, but it can have serious consequences.

That's one of the fundamental lessons that Melanie Phillips explains in her book "Londonistan," an examination of how Britain has become an international center of Islamic radicalism. Here's an excerpt of an interview with Mrs. Phillips in The Washington Times today:

Q: Your most famous previous book, "All Must Have Prizes," was a critique of egalitarianism in British schools. Do you see a connection with the problems of the education system and the rise of the terrorist threat in Britain? A: Yes, in that the root cause of Britain's education disaster is the loss of belief in the core purpose of education: the transmission of a society's culture to the next generation. An intelligentsia that has lost faith in the British nation -- and indeed in the idea of "the nation" itself -- has torn up Britain's cultural map. The result has been young people left culturally adrift in a sea of ignorance, unable to think for themselves and no longer knowing what values they must defend.

Mrs. Phillips, a columnist for the Daily Mail of London, warns that the cultural collapse in Britain -- a crisis highlighted by the July 7, 2005, bombings in London -- threatens to deprive the United States of its closest ally in the war on terror.

And she is not the only one who sees a connection between the prevalence of multiculturalism and the inability of Western societies to defend themselves against terrorism. Mark Steyn has made similar arguments in "America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It", which is reviewed by Christopher Hitchens in the latest issue of City Journal.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times

The cliques and geeks, the jocks and princesses, the stoners, loners and losers -- did anyone ever capture the cultural essence of high-school the way writer/director John Hughes did in his 1980s teen films?

Though widely dismissed two decades ago as shallow, commercial multiplex fodder, Hughes' films are now viewed as coming-of-age classics by Gen Xers who grew up relating to the Reagan-era teen misfits in "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink" and "Some Kind of Wonderful."

Hughes' adolescent angst oeuvre is the subject of a fascinating new book, "Don't You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes," edited by Jaime Clarke and with a forward by Ally Sheedy, who starred as the neurotic Allison in 1985's "The Breakfast Club" (here's a clip of the film's trailer).

For the most part, the essays are subjective, as the writers recall how as teenagers they related to certain characters in Hughes' films. Molly Ringwald as Samantha in "Sixteen Candles" (1984) or as Andie in "Pretty in Pink" (1986) are the most common, along with Matthew Broderick in the title role of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986). (Here's a clip of Ben Stein calling roll as Bueller's teacher.)

The self-revelatory first-person approach to the films has its drawbacks, but the book does convey the power of movies to shape teenagers' self-perception, as the writers explain how these films taught them to navigate through the social storms of high school life.

Perhaps the most interesting account is from Moon Unit Zappa. Daughter of the late rock guitar genius Frank Zappa, she gained fame as a slang-talking teenager on her father's hit single "Valley Girl."

Moon describes how, growing up in a hippie/alternative environment in Malibu, she pined for the blandly "normal" existence of Hughes' middle-class teens (most of his films were set in the prosperous northside Chicago suburbs where Hughes himself came of age).

For years, even as she socialized with some of the most famous young stars of the '80s -- Molly Ringwald dated Moon's brother Dweezil Zappa -- Moon harbored an unrequited crush on Michael Schoeffling, who played hunky Jake in "Sixteen Candles."

More than anything else, this new book reminds us why Hughes' teen films remain enduringly popular, even now that those '80s hairstyles, fashions and pop songs are so hopelessly outdated. Hughes demonstrated an ability to create human-scale sagas filled with characters we recognize -- including ourselves.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor

Though twice nominated previously, Ralph Fiennes isn't among the Oscar nominees at this year's 79th annual Academy Awards.

However,the star of "The English Patient" and "The Constant Gardener" has been keeping busy. An airline attendant says she and Mr. Fiennes, 44, became intimate last month aboard a flight from Australia to Bombay:

"Ralph is gorgeous and the chemistry between us was amazing. What woman wouldn't want to make love with him? This sort of attraction happens to people all the time. It's just not usually with a Hollywood star at 35,000 feet."

Lisa Robertson, 38, was fired this month by Qantas Airways after telling her torrid tale to British tabloids. And Miss Robertson's description of her toilet tryst with Mr. Fiennes as "making love"
drew a rebuke from Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America:

Often a term which is wonderfully appropriate when applied to one situation is stripped of its true meaning when applied inappropriately. Exhibit A would be the frequent false usage of the expression "make love." I can't think of a more egregious example of this than the stewardess admitting that she and the Academy-Award nominated actor, a man she had never met before, engaged in sexual intercourse in the first-class toilet at 35,000 feet. She is quoted as saying, "It's true. We did make love on the plane that night. At first I denied it because I was so desperate to keep my job ... "

The true character of their tawdry, pathetic affair was made clear further in her account when she described her subsequent stay overnight in his hotel room as ending at 7 a.m. the next morning with him saying, "I'm going to have to kick you out now." And then, she quotes him as saying in a sincere, gentle voice (being the consummate actor that he is), "I really like you."

Is this what passes for "making love" with post-modern women?

Mrs. Crouse's concern for calling things by their right names would perhaps have been appreciated by the late Richard Weaver, whose
seminal "Ideas Have Consequences" (1948) was one of the founding works of the modern conservative movement. A professor of rhetoric, Weaver observed that "if words no longer correspond to objective realities, it seems no great wrong to take liberties with words."

Mr. Fiennes, it seems, has taken liberties with more than words, and his womanizing ways have earned him a new sobriquet from the The Scotsman: "The constant philanderer."

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times

Don Surber of the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail calls our attention to a timely article about Playmates who die young:

"The selection of Anna Nicole Smith as a Playboy Playmate in 1992 made her a member of an exclusive sorority. Her death at 39 put her in a more grisly club -- Playmates who haven't reached their 50th birthday."

This tragic roster most famously includes the very first Playmate (Marilyn Monroe, who died at 36) and 1980 Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered at age 20 by her estranged husband. The movie "Star 80," starring Eric Roberts in the role of Stratten's deranged ex, is a frightening examination of the nexus of beauty, sex and fame. As with the excesses of starlets like Britney Spears, the death of Anna Nicole (real name, Vicki Lynn Hogan Marshall) exposes the false promise of fame.

Both Britney and Anna Nicole achieved every starstruck kid's dream of being rich and famous, only to discover that (a) it doesn't magically guarantee happiness, and (b) there's no easy way out of the fame game.

In show business, generating publicity is essential to making money, so being stalked by paparazzi -- and having your every personal problem chronicled in the celebrity press -- is part of the job. (If the paparazzi ever stop paying attention, you know your career is in trouble.)

It's undoubtedly worst for those whose primary claim to fame is being young and sexy.

That package comes with an expiration date, creating market pressure to capitalize on the commodity while it's still hot.

Dying young has obvious advantages in this respect -- Marilyn Monroe is forever a bombshell blond, not a gray ghost.

The continuing tabloid TV talkfest about Ann Nicole Smith demonstrates the ironic fact that fame turns people into products, and even death doesn't stop the selling of sex.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times

Dr. Miriam Grossman, author of "Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student," will speak today at 2:30 p.m. at the National Press Club. The event featuring Dr. Grossman, who works for UCLA health services, is sponsored by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute.

Last week, staff writer Cheryl Wetzstein interviewed Dr. Grossman, who explained how the education system fails to provide young women with important information about sex, relationships and health:

Young women aren't taught that, for biological reasons, they are likely to bond emotionally with the men with whom they have sex and this is part of the reason they often feel angry, distressed or depressed after casual sexual activity.

Teenage girls are not taught that their reproductive systems are more vulnerable to infections than those of older women. This is why telling teens to delay sexual intercourse is "sound medical advice," she says.

Young women aren't warned that being diagnosed with an STD is often a shocking and traumatic event, and that medical treatments cannot guarantee that their STDs will not continue to cause problems, especially when they are trying to get pregnant or give birth.

Young women are not encouraged to talk about their abortion experiences even though their crying spells, insomnia and depression may be linked to such an event.

Ignorance is not bliss, and common sense doesn't seem to be very common on campus these days.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times