Could do, but very unlikely to.

In other words, he was considered for a diplomatic position.

And “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

But, you have to admit, he does excel at that.

An old friend of mine goes on a silent retreat about this time every year.

Also available as a free download?

Apparently, there’s a whole series of these albums (‘Vivaldi.’ ‘Tchaikovsky.’ etc.) with the same design anomaly.

A graphic designer friend suggests going with ‘Sibelius*’, leaving purchasers looking for a non-existent footnote.

Perhaps an album of Stockhausen’s ‘Punkte’; just ‘Stockhausen.’

I love the ‘Skazki’ (but can’t play them!).

“Right on.”

“Damn right.”

“Sibelius—full stop!”

A later gloss on the verse?

“Hurry up, you’re going to be late . . . as in ‘the late Arthur Dent’.”

«Dogma : I am God»

“One man’s fish is another man’s poisson.”

Hence the deflating assessment of an erstwhile lecher, “All mouth and trousers”?

“Are you insane or just an evil bastard?”

Apparently, AI generated maths proofs can run to 200,000+ lines (according to New Scientist); the problem then is checking they are correct—but apparently there are AI programs that can do that.

Hoping my grandson may be able to benefit from this next year.

There’s a long rave about the symbolism of the dove in Umberto Eco’s ‘The Island of the Day Before’, which I’m just now re-reading after many years. It covers a multitude of allusions!

What did I write? I’ve read it; I still can’t see what you’re upset about. Better spell it out.

You’re allowed to colour it in with crayons?

I like the mug!

You are welcome; but how on earth do you read this as patronising? I sincerely hope there will be another SNP majority at Holyrood after the next election, but that will scarcely make any difference at Westminster (Trollope’s ‘English Parliament’), will it?

It’s rather pointless including the SNP in this chart; yes, I know they take seats in the ‘English Parliament’ (A. Trollope), but the SNP is only really relevant in a Scottish context. (Unless you mean to highlight the ‘in bed with an elephant’ trope?)

You can’t judge a book by what’s inside the covers.

Like those relatives I overheard saying “That Buddha — he’s really let himself go . . .”

Condolences.