Mr Belichick affirms the old adage: if his lips are moving, he’s lying.

That the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee has been compelled to ask Mr Eastwood and Mr Cooper to intervene in the wake of the rise of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim threats says all that needs to be said about the degraded state of the Americans’ political culture.

After the demise of the historical avant-garde (DADA, surrealism), art no longer has the capacity to shock. Hence, irony has ascended as the predominant, adversarial aesthetic form, which also stands opposed to “schlock” (e.g., Pussy Riot), the kitschification of shock.

I hope Mark Cousins’ “6 Desires: DH Lawrence & Sardinia” includes the exquisite von Richthofen sisters.