When Mr Blair implied the other morning that the most recent crisis about his imminent resignation was got up by the media, he was, for once, telling the truth - if not the whole truth.
For now that we live with a 24-hour news service, the media has no choice but to inflate non-news into hot news, to fill all the new available space.
In reality, there was almost no chance of Mr Blair resigning, because if he did Gordon Brown would have to take the blame for the local election results in May, which are expected to be disastrous. No one wants that.
Nevertheless, in spite of this obvious truth, a few ministers and MPs indulging in idle talk or mere wishful thinking got elevated into headline news.
So far as foreign news is concerned, the problem is sheer
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quantity, not quality. In the global village of today every horrible and shocking event anywhere in the world is now available to us as soon as it happens.
Whereas a century ago one only heard of horrible murders, or all the other examples of man's extreme inhumanity to man, very rarely - once or twice in a lifetime - nowadays there is no respite.
So it is not just a question of more news, but more news of a kind most certain to spread alarm and despondency, most certain to corrupt and deprave.
Most of us can't quite resist the temptation of the news. But we can all develop a much more sceptical eye and ear. The old adage that "ignorance is bliss; t'is folly to be wise" comes to my mind: as the only way to avoid an early grave. 
FIRST POSTED FEBRUARY 7, 2007
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