From the Department of "Better Late Than Never"
Yesterday was Bastille Day! Oh, the temptation to mock the self-importance of our French friends is nigh-irresistable, but I shall refrain as a gesture of goodwill toward President Sarkozy: Froglink. The inclusion of other nations in the Bastille Day parade could be seen as an expression of France's desire to reduce the whole of Europe to constituent parts of metropolitan France, but for the nonce I shall take our Gallic comrades at their word: they wish to forge a Europe united in common cause by shared values, not build an empire by stealth. Vive la France!

Across the Channel, The Proms started on Friday. I, for the twentieth-eighth consecutive season, shall not be in attendance at the Royal Albert Hall. Should I ever have the means and will to summer in the England of my forefathers, I should be quite interesting in experiencing at least one concert of The Proms, and not solely for the novelty.