Daily Archives: September 29, 2026

Essays, History, Intellicurean.com, Literature, Politics

THE FOX KNEW ONE THING

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Intellicurean Essays on Intellicurious

The fox knows many things, the proverb says, and the hedgehog knows one big thing. But in the oldest story we have of the two actually meeting, it is the fox who knows one big thing, and Aesop used it to plead for a thief’s life.

A soaked red fox trapped chest-deep in a hole in dark river rocks looks up at a hedgehog on the lit ledge above her
The fox in the hole and the hedgehog on the ledge, made for the essay.

Why we’re pointing you there

Isaiah Berlin made the fox and the hedgehog famous as two kinds of mind, and forecasters have since made the fox the one to be. Michael Cummins goes back to a story Aristotle preserved in his Rhetoric. A fox swept into a hole in the rocks is covered in fleas. A passing hedgehog offers to pick them off, and she refuses: these fleas are full, and new ones would be hungry. Aesop told it to an assembly on Samos to argue that a rich man on trial for his life should be spared, because a poor successor would steal more. Aristotle kept the speech and never recorded the verdict.

What we liked most is what the essay notices in the details. The fox’s refusal only makes sense because she can’t get out of the hole. Four centuries later, Josephus has the emperor Tiberius tell the same story to explain why he left his governors in place so long. The emperor’s version has no hole, and his reasoning is sharper than the fable’s. The essay says so plainly, and then shows what that sharper reasoning made possible. It ends on the hedgehog, the one character who never gets to answer. Every quotation from the ancient texts has been checked against the texts themselves.

On an open country road at dusk, a wounded man sitting against a roadside stone raises his hand to stop a cloaked passer-by from waving away the flies around his bandages
A wounded man and a stander-by, made for the essay.

Read the full essay at Intellicurean →

Essays & Reviews for the Intellectually Curious

Culture, History, Homes, Magazines, Reviews, Travel

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 30, 2026 PREVIEW

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COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Restoration Miracle’ – How a garden was transformed…

When the Englishman’s house was no longer his castle

Deborah Nicholls-Lee explores how the requisition of country houses played a crucial role in winning the Second World War

Look, listen, learn

Nature writer Mark Cocker delves into his new book to explain how we can open our eyes to the world around us

The last milkman standing?

Are doorstep dairy deliveries a thing of the past, asks Patrick Galbraith, as he joins one of the capital’s few remaining rounds

Spreads from Country Life September 30, 2026

The restoration of ‘England’s green and pleasant land’

Timothy Mowl admires the revival of one of the finest and earliest Pulhamite gardens at Highnam Court in Gloucestershire

The Versailles of the north

The Duchess of Northumberland tells Charles Quest-Ritson of her plans for the Alnwick Garden as it celebrates its 25th anniversary

Tony Iommi’s favourite painting

The Black Sabbath founder chooses a work depicting beauty, strength and grace

Country-house treasure

John Goodall raises a glass to the late-Victorian ‘Braxted Bar’ that dominates the entrance hall at Braxted Park in Essex

The genius of place

Classical and Gothic detailing are employed to dramatic effect at Home Farm in North Yorkshire, finds John Martin Robinson

Spreads from Country Life September 30, 2026

On the brink of extinction

In a last call for the telephone exchange, Ptolemy Dean ponders the future of the obsolete edifices

The legacy

Octavia Pollock hails the vision of John Bateman, whose dams and reservoirs still serve us today

There goes summer

John Lewis-Stempel prepares to get hands-on with his flock as thoughts turn to tupping time with the transition to autumn

The return of the native

The large tortoiseshell butterfly is back. Harry Pearson hails British species risen from the dead

Spreads from Country Life September 30, 2026

Luxury

Amie Elizabeth White showcases floral jewels and country classics, plus Rita Konig’s favourite things

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe picks companies that add a touch of craftsmanship to country-house renovations

Arts & antiques

Ahead of a new Pierre-Auguste Renoir exhibition at the National Gallery, Michael Prodger looks at how the French Impressionist is still dividing critical opinion

Spreads from Country Life September 30, 2026

Countryside mystery

Straying livestock could prove costly in the days of the village pound, as John Wright reveals

Travel

Rosie Paterson visits the Algarve in Portugal and finds a natural haven that is truly worth its salt

Ripe for the picking

From apples to pears and pomegranates, painters down the ages have used all manner of fruit as artistic symbols, as Michael Prodger discovers

Art, Arts & Literature, Exhibitions, History, Magazines, Museums

APOLLO MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 2026

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October 2026 issue

APOLLO MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘ROY LICHTENSTEIN’S EXPLOSIVE GENIUS’| France’s grandest interior designer | the birth of the London art scene | why dinosaurs rule at auction

Roy Lichtenstein’s explosive genius

The artist’s bold work arrived with a bang, but the American Pop artist was also responding to earlier revolutions

Does democracy have an architecture of its own?

Jan-Werner Müller’s new book explores the question of how we might design truly democratic spaces, but perhaps the answer lies in our own behaviour

What to see at Art Basel Paris

The vibrant modern and contemporary fair is showing no signs of slowing down

Charting the expanding market for historical maps

From early atlases of the Americas to the oldest surviving town plan of London, interest in important significant maps is spreading

Economics, Foreign Affairs, History, Magazines, Reviews, Technology

BEIJING REVIEW MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 1, 2026

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BEIJING REVIEW MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘THE LONG MARCH’ – Inside the journey that shaped China’s trajectory…

OUT OF THE ROBOT CLASSROOM: CHINA’S EMBODIED AI TAKES ON REAL-WORLD JOBS

Thirty robots made up the first class at a robot school in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province. After more than two months of training, four have graduated and landed formal jobs. 

THE LONG MARCH REVISITED

When the idea of the new Long March experience was first presented to me, I was enthusiastic. From early June through late July, we would spend six weeks following part of the route of the original Long March (1934-36) in honor of the journey’s conclusion 90 years ago this October.

The Long March was one of the seminal historical events of the 20th century. It had a transformative impact on the history of modern China.

WHY EU-CHINA MUST TEAM UP ON AI GOVERNANCE

At the World Intelligence Expo 2026 in Tianjin, I emphasized in my speech the principle that should guide every conversation about artificial intelligence (AI) today, namely without transparent, responsible, and ethical governance frameworks, the transformative potential of AI would be undermined by fragmentation and mistrust. The world now stands at a crossroads. A unified global AI governance framework remains elusive, so the question is no longer whether the EU and China should cooperate, but where and how they can do so most effectively.

Books, Culture, Magazines, Politics, Previews, Reviews

CLAREMONT REVIEW OF BOOKS – FALL 2026

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Claremont Review of Books: The latest issue features ‘The Ruling Class At Stanford’….

Tune In, Drop Out, Start Up

by Michael Anton

Because I’m going to be quite critical of Theo Baker’s How to Rule the World, it feels only right to start with three pieces of sincere praise: the book held my attention all the way to the end, I learned things from it, and I read it twice. These are not reactions I expect most new books to generate, let alone one written by someone not yet of legal drinking age. Hence on this basis alone, I would have to concede that Rule (borrowing Baker’s shorthand for a “secret” Stanford class, about which more below) is a real achievement.

The Married Vine

by Sam Schneider

The first marriage in Tuscan history was not between a man and a woman but between a vine and a tree. Before the Etruscans cleared these hills, they were dense with oakwood, through which wild grape vines climbed naturally toward the canopy, wedded to the forest in which they grew. The Etruscans formalized that marriage. Vines were trained up living maples, elms, and poplars. Grapes were cut from ladders or with long sickles. Later Italians called it the vite maritata—the married vine.

Blowing Off The Odyssey

by Martha Bayles

After watching Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in a sold-out IMAX theater, my husband and I were heading for the exit when we were attacked by smiling employees brandishing free rolled-up posters. Raising our shields, we broke through their phalanx, leaped aboard our vessel moored in the parking lot, and sailed homeward with only a few posters glancing off the moonroof.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – TUESDAY, SEPT. 29, 2026

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Mideast Oil Exports Rebound Even as Prices Remain Elevated

More tankers are moving through the Strait of Hormuz as shippers gain confidence, but the global supply of oil is still below demand

The World Has Adapted to the Loss of Gulf Oil and Gas. At Least for Now.

Six months after the start of the Iran War, the biggest buyers of Middle Eastern energy have secured alternative supplies.

Bomb by Bomb, the Slow Death of My Hometown in Ukraine

It was possible, for a time, to think that Kramatorsk, where I was born and raised, would survive the war mostly unscathed. Not any more.

Democratic Turnout Surged in the Primaries. Will It Matter in November?

A voter enthusiasm gap provides another signal that Democrats are favored this fall, though Republicans still have key advantages.

The Russian Prison That Evan Gershkovich Carried Home

In an interview, Mr. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was imprisoned in Russia for 16 months, described his ordeal and the moment that nearly broke him.

The Rescuers Keeping Two Ukrainian ‘Fortress Cities’ Alive

Emergency workers have to move fast after Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine. Another could come at any moment.