I hereby tender my resignation as a member of the human race.

[hecate]

With immediate effect.

a global economic crisis.
Tibet
Russia
5 years in Iraq
kenyan election troubles
Darfur
etc etc etc

And what is the top 'breaking news' story when I turn on my tv today?

David Beckham is going to join some other overpaid wankers kicking a small bit of leather round a field.
[boggle]

I quit. I'm done. I'm going to apply for membership elsewhere.

oooh is he?

I always thought you were a demon you know....nothing personal but the name you understand...

Are you watching 24 hour news Hecate?
If so then wait for a scheduled BBC or C4 bulletin.
If that is what you have done already then I resign too.

Lol, I so agree with you.

Where I live models, actors, footballers and local politicians are frequently top stories. In holiday periods so is the traffic on the motorways.

I stoped buying the local newspaper 9 years ago after I saw an article of a girl getting a prize as the best hamster owner, as the most important feature in the front page.

Still wonder if that was telling a lot about the average person populating this area... .

fuzzy
I am watching the 24hr. If it is the top story on news at 10 I am out of here on the first ship
Yup. Model walks down street, pop star blows her nose, oh, by the way international crisis er thingie in some other place dead And to recap our top story, our lord beckham had a hair cut.
Honestly. I want to shoot myself

Ahhh, the 24 channels are always like that because they try and differenciate themselves with breaking news. And their viewing audience tends to prefer "softer" stories.
I stay away from them at all times. I hate the effect of the 24 hour news culture and I refuse to support it by tuning in.

shit innit

quite agree.

so, you got a spaceship then? got room for me?

It is a huge world and there is SO much going on, all the time. There is so much scope to know loads. They're just lazy. I can't believe people would rather know about david friggin beckham than understand a developing global economic crisis, for example.

ah well, I don't actually have a ship. Which is where my plan runs into a slight snag.
I may have to take to the oceans and join the dolphins instead.

I totally agree with you. Mind you I find celeb "News" slightly more interesting than the "wintery weather during winter" stories that we have to endure every bloody year.

I felt like this yesterday - at the hairdressers. OK I wasn't expecting War and Peace on the magazine rack but "At Home with Nicky Hambleton Jones" - a new magazine ALL about plastic surgery.

And full of gems like:

Eat 10 tbspoons of tomato puree or ketchup every week - it will take 3.5 years off your age.

Eat oatmeal every day - it will take 4.75 years off your age.

All cod-scientific bullshit. And then if that doesn't work, go and get bits chopped off your face.

Was in a foul mood anyway and they were playing hideous BANGING house music right in my ear despite the fact that not a person in the place was under 35 so who were they kidding?

Grrrr.

hecate, listen to the World Service. Reasserts a proper sense of perspective very quickly. I love it.

I was handed a mummy magazine at the hairdressers recently, filled with celeb gossip and top tips. Urgh, I was most indignant.

I wanted to ask if I looked like the kind of person who would be interested in some Z-list German soapstar and his model wife.

I do admit to flicking through OK or Hello mags though.

The last few days have been dominated by Macca and Mucca and Schacka in most of the UK tabloids.

You people should see our (one and only) local newspaper in Monaco. Economic crisis, terrorist attacks etc.... no problem. On the front page of Monaco-Matin, you will see:

• children of Monaco visited the Prince and sang him songs

• a dolphin was spotted off the shore

... and other matters of grave urgency

Are you a tax-exile cote?

No. Never lived nor earned in UK.

But it's rather sweet not paying any taxes

I watch no other news but channel 4. I love sport but sport is not news!!!! Ch4 have a delightful derisory attitude to sport and that's as it should be. Wimbledon finals excepted .

i know, but i was reading the paper yesterday and there were so many picture of bodies in iraq that i feel so totally useless that i can't do anything about it. iykwim.

H-Mills-Mcartney... who the F cares what happens in her divorce settlement?! Or that she got divorced, or who she was ever married to? Can't believe it was 2nd item in the news stories, yesterday. Does this story tell us anything about the world, society, the future, the past? No, except that the obession with celebrities is worse than ever.
S I G H...