Newspaper readers share with those listening to radio or gawping at screens a perpetual dilemma: which news item do we have to worry about and have a view on?
Not, presumably, the fact that the Queen is going cool on corgies; probably not how space exploration is getting on; townies can maybe skip the fates of either cows or badgers.
But to such unavoidable items as how the Scots and the English divide their voting in the Commons, or when strikes are stopping our transport, or to the news that some popular medicine is actually unsafe we must pay attention.
But what about places where Britain has no responsibility – do we have to try to understand something concerning some small African township? Maybe not. And turbulence in the Eurozone? Should it change our view of Greece? It would not have changed the view of people like my father, who made his living teaching their ancient language, nor I, who became engaged at Delphi at dawn – with a decent coffee and a marvellous view. (It was a respectable end to the long, happy journey that my mother later referred to as our nuptial flight.)
Maybe we have to keep reading to stop us thinking only of our own experiences – even perhaps to the extent of reading things written by papers and people we thoroughly disagree with, if only to remind us how mistaken they are.
What do you think? Have your say below
