Inspired by my 2004 "Book of Love" column, a reader has dug out this year's version from the New York Post online version (you have to go to the Classifieds).  He opines that there has been a falling-off in quality this past thirty years.

He may be right.  Of the 63 tributes I counted, only 49 are lovers (including spouses).  Nine of the others are parents or kids, two are pets, three are ambiguous.

Seems to me that's more non-lovers than formerly.  There is of course nothing wrong with loving your parents, kids, or mongoose.  I rather favor such affections.  That's not what St. Valentine's Day is for, though.

A proper quantitative analysis would do a multi-year comparison, with due allowance for the decline of print media and the migration of this kind of thing to social media.  I'll be glad to do that analysis if someone will pay me for it.  Hourly rates available on request from VDARE.com.

There's definitely been a decline in the noms d'amour.  I'm glad Passion Kitten still loves Mountain Bear, but the rest are mostly just Mike and Elsa.

Are we headed down the same path the Japanese have taken?

Almost 50 per cent of married couples in Japan haven't had sex in more than one month, a new survey has revealed.

An investigation conducted by the country’s family planning association found that highest rate of sexless partnerships were among couples in their mid-to-late forties. [Japanese say sayonara to their sex lives: Half of the country's married couples haven't had sex in more than a month by Sadie Whitelocks; MailOnline, February 14th 2017.]

I wouldn't mind very much so long as we got Japan's immigration policy, too.