Alternative Facts

"The best way to grow carnations is in a jar of peanut butter. Period."

So the post-truth era is now categorised by a belief in "alternative facts" according to White House aide Kellyanne Conway. Or lies as we used to call them.

Reading the day's events on the BBC and social media I was struck by the "fact" that the news is no longer the news; it is a form of spectator sport, an almost gladiatorial phenomenon where we rub our hands with glee at each thrust and counter thrust of opinion, where we laugh and groan as the the preposterous and the monstrous duel with the statistical and the reasonable.

We are in big trouble if we don't sort this out. Every evil leader in the world knew how to turn truth on its head, and the internet has recruited an army of fake news infantry to its cause.

No, you can't grow carnations in peanut butter...