It’s that rare and fleeting time of year when we can open every window, fill the house with fresh air, and hear the brook babbling outside.

In a couple of weeks, we’ll have to go into a voluntary lockdown that will last until October. The only air fit to breathe will be air-conditioned. The brook will dry out, the lawn will wither, and the birds will shut up.

Klara’s sick at home, so we watched Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio to keep her entertained. It’s well-made but I can’t figure out who the audience is supposed to be. It’s too dark and convoluted for kids but too preachy and primitive for adults. Klara watched it but she’s screen-deprived and would watch a soap commercial on a loop. I watched to keep her company but it was very tedious.

Exactly. Meloni has been amazing in her fierce anti-Russian stand. She’s one of European conservatives who are doing what their American counterparts aren’t managing to do, which is being conservative without practicing extreme subservience to Russia.

Meloni’s conservatism is of the mature kind. It has the moral authority to express opinions independently, without first checking what the opponents think and always trying to say the exact opposite.