HERE is a thought experiment for an idle Tuesday. Which of the following is more likely to test the boundaries of credulity: that a handful of Republican congressmen, former congressmen and sundry right-wingers would think that arming three-year-olds is, actually, now you mention it, quite a good way to deal with school shootings? Or that the President of the United States of America would stand next to the leader of an openly hostile foreign power and tell the world’s press that he believes the word of his counterpart more than he trusts the assessment of his intelligence community?

At 10pm on July 16th BBC One aired its nightly news, leading with the joint press conference between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Britain’s national broadcaster described it as “a pretty extraordinary press conference by any standards”. At the same time, just three flicks of a remote control away, Channel 4 premiered Sacha Baron Cohen’s new show “Who is America?” (it was broadcast in the United States the previous day). The first of seven…Continue reading
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