The second world war, Richard Nixon's second term and apartheid would all have been avoided if the people responsible had all been watching Casualty or Channel 5 news instead. The bottom line is that it turned me into a far worse person. The first is that everyone has a telly and watches it a lot more than they admit. The second is that it gives thousands of hours of good quality entertainment for astonishingly little cost. In terms of 20th-century inventions, TV beats the internet into a cocked hat and makes moon travel and antibiotics seem almost pointless.
Life is so much better without television.
I am doing so much more, and feel a better person. Most people, and I include myself, are sufficiently screwed up that society benefits by having us so cheaply and consistently reduced to a soporific state. TV is such a key part of people's lives that you can only distrust people who don't watch it on principle. I propose that parliamentary candidates be forced to list their favourite shows in their election publicity, and be prepared to answer questions on them during election campaigns. The second week was just dull.