Oh, brother, have I got a crush on that man!

Yet, public infatuation with the external trappings of democracy is usually the norm.

On the one hand, Sarkozy s fascination with rich people has helped isolate him from the average Frenchman.

As you can see from the pictures, both Noam and I had an early fascination with first principles, and over the years, as our knowledge of science and technology became more sophisticated, this early awe with the basics has only intensified.

There was a brief political infatuation among some Westerners in the 1960 s with Nehru jackets and Maoist revolution, but it was brief.

Social rejection has not turned young French and British Muslims into mass murderers, and the infatuation of many with al Qaeda has not overwhelmed their desire to fit in.

At EG'08, Adam Savage talks about his fascination with the dodo bird, and how it led him on a strange and surprising double quest. It's an entertaining adventure through the mind of a creative obsessive.

Netanyahu persists in questioning Obama s infatuation with the two state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, and he refuses to see the link that Obama believes exists between an Israeli Palestinian peace and his capacity to curtail Iran s nuclear ambitions.

Or was it because the forecasters were in thrall to economic models that implied that economies were at full employment, in which case the only result of fiscal expansion would be inflation? They now know better, and Ferguson should now know better as well.

But becoming a murderous fanatic like Merah or Sidique Khan is the personal choice of a pathological mind, not the trend of a generation. Social rejection has not turned young French and British Muslims into mass murderers, and the infatuation of many with al Qaeda has not overwhelmed their desire to fit in.