They did--because they let me sit in First Class, where they could keep an eye on me, feed me coffee, & get me to fill in an accident incident form. There was also a good dog nearby to admire.

(I later wrote to say thankyou, and to wish them all the best for their forthcoming strike action.)

On the occasion three years ago that I spectacularly failed to Mind The Gap on Platform 5 at Paddington & wrecked my shin, the GWR staff on the train were excellent.

All my condolences for Minnie, but aren't Ruby & Sapphie magnificent!

My goodness. Welcome back!

Still in a state of nunlessness?

The chatbot has come up with "Kollegenehepartnerbegegnungsfaszinationsgefühl".

Sure. As I say, in general I'm sympathetic to your scepticism, & don't much like the fashion for retrospectively psychoanalysing or IDing dead people w. mental illnesses (or as gay, trans, etc.),. But I did think this essay was better than most, & I found it genuinely illuminating of its subject.

Indeed.

(It's not in this essay, but the biographical snippet it illuminates for me is when JJR took on the job of editing the works of the Abbé de St-Pierre, never came close to executing the project, but did end up writing two short, v. incisive essays on what was wrong with St-Pierre's ideas.)

Although in general I share your scepticism, I was impressed by this piece (as someone who has worked on Rousseau on and off for 25 years now). It's certainly vastly better than the old "psychobiography" nonsense that used to be fashionable in some parts.

They remain the only government in my lifetime without a theory of how economic growth happens and a determination that it definitely not be through universities, immigration, high skilled services, tax simplification, trade relations etc

Yes, but in English. (I have only read Book I in Greek.)

I have been teaching Republic for twenty-eight years now, so it is not unreasonable to know something of what it contains.

It is!