Category: Arts & Media

Is it time for Britain’s tabloids to abandon pretending to be newspapers and go back to peddling stories about UFOs, ghosts and miracles? Top pop historian and publisher announces plans to launch new ‘traditional tabloid’ providing public with a satisfying diet of dubious tales of weirdness instead of depressing stories of wars, scandals and political scandals. Brilliant idea or folly in face of online competition for fake fantasy news?

Are the UK’s reality TV shows really nothing more than a charter for would be sex offenders? As another show comes under scrutiny for allegations of sexual assault against female contestants, producer announces new, even more controversial, format featuring male contestants trying to guess which female contestant is underage. Bold taboo-challenging social experiment or low grade titillation for the sexually depraved?

Top academic asks – why do long-running media narratives, like the Epstein Files, never seem to reach a satisfactory conclusion? Why is that ‘smoking gun’ never quite found? Is it a conspiracy by media elites to distract the public from what’s really going on in the world via these never-ending narratives? Or are the public being protected from the mind-numbingly mundane nature of the real world?

Are increasing requirements for intrusive ID and age checks for internet pornography driving users back to traditional, analogue, smut? Entrepreneur announces launch of new line of adult magazines in anticipation of analogue migration, pointing to lack of age checks at local newsagents for top shelf content. Others look forward to return of traditional strip joints, peep shows and sex shops as digital ID checks become more prevalent.

Is UK right-wing media’s relentless focus on doom and gloom part of an attempt to actually manifest a dystopian reality via minds of its readers? Is it part of plot to create environment for extreme right-wing political victory? Is Labour government using Tibetan monks to manifest counter positive reality via meditation?