Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – the more things change, the more they stay the same. Said to be an old French proverb, but also attributed to Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890), French novelist, journalist and one-time editor of Le Figaro. In the St James translation of The Bible, Solomon is said to pronounce in Ecclesiastes: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Every generation, as we older people know, confidently pronounces the most damning prognosis on the...
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