In the Press · Museums · Observations · Society · Paris

It is hard to single out any aspect of this Louvre director's tenure that has not come in for devastating criticism

It is hard to single out any aspect of this Louvre director's tenure that has not come in for devastating criticism. Her departure can therefore rightly be called an act of responsibility, whoever may have initiated it Farewell, de Carmont - read my text on the crisis at the

Books · Observations · People

I Love Watching Panic

Michel Houellebecq

An orange KamAZ lorry stands in a breach in the wall of a yellow building under a balcony, with rubble on the pavement.

Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Saint Petersburg · Humour

Lorry damages the façade of Golitsyn House on the Fontanka Embankment

KAMAZ: Looks Like I Really Am the First at This Arch. The Golitsyn House on the Fontanka Embankment: in pain

NB! · Observations · Society

If You Fear the Nineties Enough, You May Easily Fail to Notice the Thirties

Observations · Science · Education · Society

In Russia, Fines Are Being Recorded for Mentioning Materials from Universities and Educational Centres Designated by the Ministry of Justice as “Undesirable Organisations”

The first precedents date from the end of 2025, when a member of staff at Yaroslavl Pedagogical University was fined 20,000 roubles for references to such educational organisations in a scholarly publication. At the beginning of 2026 a female employee of the Yaroslavl State Theatre Institute received a similar

Books · Observations · Mores · Pop Culture

A quotation on how concern for fashionable clothing hinders a good life

As for the ladies' fever for fashion weeks and new collections, I can only recall the words of Leo Tolstoy in "A Calendar of Wisdom":. Nothing stands so much in the way of a good life as the concern that one's clothes should be handsome

Observations · Science · Society

The author proposes separating political ideologies from Hegel's Absolute Spirit

Perhaps this is merely the opinion of a man wearied by endless examinations in philosophy. But one would like, at long last, to demolish the noxious machinery of the Hegelian interpretation of history. Or at the very least to separate all existing political ideologies from his concept of the Absolute