Good News is No News

What’s ‘Read Wharf’?  

I have mixed feelings about ‘Red Dwarf’ coming back – frankly, I think it was long past its sell-by date when it was put to sleep, so I’m not sure there’s any life left in the old Bug.  Still, the same could probably be said for the original Dr Who – and look how that worked out!  On the other hand, Dr Who was revived by the BBC who are the experts at reviving things – I’m not sure Dave has the same clout.  We shall see…

You Can’t Ruin the Same Duvet Cover Twice

That was Mark’s assertion this morning – yesterday I had a ridiculous accident when the slightest movement of one hand jogged the other hand in which I was holding a cup of tea.  This ‘butterfly effect’ caused a gigantic Jackson-Pollock-shaped splash on the duvet, causing me to leap into action and shove the whole assemblage into the washing machine.  The weather being what it was, it dried in no time and was back on the bed last night.  This morning the same thing nearly happened again..

A splash on a duvet cover hardly constitutes bad news – and yet the phrase ‘duvet cover remains pristine’ would likely not grab me a lot of readers.  Why is it that we are drawn to bad news and not to good?  Good news doesn’t have to be a non-event: it doesn’t have to be a ‘things-stay-the-same-because-nothing’s-gone-wrong’ type of story: and yet we are suspicious of Good News, as though there has to be a catch in it somewhere.  It’s as though something Orwellian lurks behind a Good News story, as if there’s a kind of collective denial going on.  However…

the Olympics and Paralympics have totally bucked the trend.  Instead of indulging in the national pastime of moaning and rubbishing everything we do, there has been little but praise for the Olympics and Paralympics – and, deservedly so.  It’s a huge undertaking – I for one was convinced that Major Things would go wrong, but nothing did – and has done a lot to lift people’s spirits in a time of austerity.

All right, come on now – tell me it’s a government plot to pull the wool over our eyes or something.

Go on – I dare you.

Make my day.

Kirk out