On Society
This page collects my thoughts about society. I like to look under the carpet at the ‘stuff’ we pretend isn't there. I’m not prolific (i.e. annoying). I prefer to be the sort of person people say - they don’t write a lot but what they do write is worth reading.
The state of the fourth estate
Without freedom of the press, democracy is on shaky ground. In countries where the press is overtly and obviously controlled – China, Russia, North Korea, Syria, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia are some of the worst examples according to Reporters sans frontières – the state controls society through some form of autocratic rule. There is no pretence – citizens’ rights and their very existence are at the state’s pleasure.