What is the present without its past? And what sort of future can we possibly anticipate? Nature violated, life violated: Giulio Ferroni’s latest essay

For the writer, happiness comes through the body: exercise, a smile, good manners and even a yawn can help keep the ills of the spirit at bay. Simone Weil’s mentor’s ironic and pragmatic remedy for melancholy, boredom and bad temper

The Americans and the Russians. So many promises and such disasters. What remains of ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’?

If the liberal-democratic or liberal-socialist left does not wish to lose support, it must work to foster social bonds based on self-regulation and even self-governance. Dictatorships and authoritarian regimes always arise from social chaos and insecurity

Just as in the most barbaric periods of history, war has once again become the whim or vice of political leaders who dream of being remembered like Caesar, Napoleon and other great figures of history. Simone Weil’s insight into narcissistic leaders