"More Rimbaud and Less Rambo"

Funniest headline I have seen in a while. That's the advice a few French intellectuals are giving to their new president Nicolas Sarkozy.

This is a sentiment I must say I fully endorse. I don't know if it is "right-wing", since most of the left and right categories have become very confusing in the last few years, but it is certainly shallow, vain, self-promoting and vulgar. No doubt about that. Why can't people just cut down on their food intake, another monstrously ugly aspect of our culture?

Walking on the other hand is different. It is a profoundly spiritual activity. It sharpens the senses, cleans up the mind and takes you to an elevated plane of thought and action. Many great men, from Rousseau to W. G. Sebald, they have all written about it, most of them timeless literary classics. I know it is too much to expect a politician to aspire to be a part of the illustrious walkers' community. I have also noticed that all the references to the new president always mention that he is "hyperkinetic" and "hyperenergetic." Sad, yet another case of PR guy masquerading as politician (now that Tony Blair is gone).