Which country is the most prosperous and the happiest, the envy of the rest of the world? Have a guess… It’s North Korea, now closely followed by Russia – if you believe their respective, state-controlled mass media. The official propaganda presents the country’s officialdom as competent, efficient and effective, leading the country from strength to strength, providing everything that its…
-
-
I like my breakfast full. Not full-English or full-Scottish. It’s full when I have a newspaper to flick through and read while having breakfast. For that reason, I’ve had a subscription for years, so the paper could arrive regularly and be cheaper-ish. In practical terms, the publisher would send me a bunch of special vouchers I could use to buy…
-
The human capability for benevolence as well as malevolence can produce astonishing results. The modern mass media, combined with modern communications technology, provide us with near-constant displays of human greatness as well as human meanness. It’s a perennial challenge faced by all societies across the globe. The opening reading of Jesus’ triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem was soon…
-
Where does the money come from? It’s rather a tricky question, so let me narrow it down. What is the source of the money we can spend? The answer is: it depends on who you ask. Usually, it’s children that have the funniest ideas, like tooth fairies, Santa or ‘hole-in-the-wall’. The latter is the most convenient because – unlike the…
-
I think we can all agree that comedy – in various forms – is among the most popular forms of entertainment. My favourite one is stand-up comedy and I have to admit that I consume quite a lot of it. Partially because – thanks to the internet – I’m able to watch or listen to relatively short comedic snippets rather…