Is mercy more important than justice?Since antiquity, mercy has been regarded as a virtue. The power of monarchs was legitimated by their acts of clemency, their mercy demonstrating their divine nature. Yet by the end of the eighteenth century, mercy had become "an injustice committed against society ...
Serge Gainsbourg was famous - or infamous - for his 1969 hit Je T'Aime . . . Moi Non Plus, in which he and Jane Birkin simulated the sounds of sex. The song's notoriety overshadowed an often brilliant - and wildly controversial - career as a composer, novelist, director, and actor. A shameless and charming ...