Just tried to read an irritating article in the FT (reference 1) about famine in Madagascar. An article which was so heavily festooned with glossy pictures - the sort of thing you might once have found in the National Geographic in your dentist's waiting room - that by the time you got to the text it was hard to be bothered. I dare say there was a story there, but all I have taken away is that there is a food and water problem in Madagascar and that most of the population are of Indonesian extraction, arriving from the east about the time of Alexander the Great, thousands of years after much more modest numbers arrived from Africa to the west.
A relation to the annoyingly large number of stories in the FT which are now supplied in video format. I don't want to spend my time watching some talking head banging on in some irritatingly solemn or gushing tones about something or other, be the backdrop ever so clever. I want the talking head to spend his time writing down his story properly, so that I can consume it in comfort.
I should add, that the FT remains, for the moment anyway, good value for my money. The best show in town.
References
Reference 1: Why famine in Madagascar is an alarm bell for the planet: The UN says it is the first famine caused by climate change. Those caught up in it describe a desperate fight to survive - David Pilling, Charlie Bibby, Financial Times - 2022. 2nd August.
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