Wednesday 9 September, 2026

Place de la République Striking new artwork celebrating a lovely local village square. Quote of the Day Susan Sontag once observed that “great writers are either husbands or lovers”. Husbands, in her telling, are reliable, intelligible and decent. Lovers are moody, selfish, often unbearable. Husbands clear your mind; lovers steer your imagination. The distinction works even better for political thinkers: Habermas is a husband, Derrida a lover. When they write about themselves, lovers write confessions — think Rousseau and De Quincey. Husbands write reflections: Raymond Aron or Karl Popper. The political scientist Francis Fukuyama is a classic husband. Ivan Krastev, reviewing Fukuyama’s new memoir in the FT Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Vince Gill & Albert Lee | Tulsa Time Link Thanks to John Darch for reminding me of it. Long Read of the Day Dolly Parton’s Kleenex Boxes Lovely essay by Jillian Hess on a remarkable women. As a child, Dolly…