MARK STEYN:

What gives you a better grasp of the realities of Europe today? The front-page reports on the G8 and the U.S.-EU summit? The in-depth profile of Jacques Chirac or Dominique de Villepin? Or the small space-filler about a French police lieutenant promoted to captain despite spending 12 of the last 18 years on “paternity leave,” in the course of which he wrote three books about the Beatles.

As a summation of contemporary Europe that could hardly be improved.

(Via Tim Blair).

Meanwhile, in a testament to the power of clicks over bricks, reader John MacDonald notes that Mark Steyn’s book, America Alone is Number Two on the Amazon Canada bestseller list (apparently swapping back and forth with Richard Dawkins), meaning that he’s selling a lot even though it’s not being carried in many bookstores there: “the major book chain -Indigo-hasn’t really stocked his book (The owner-Heather Reisman and her husband Gerry Schwartz were major financial donors to the Liberals).”