LIKE many people in this country, I was rudely awoken just before 1am this morning by a violent shaking.
Unlike many of the aforementioned, I did not leap out of bed, run to the window and start screaming about the end of the world being nigh...

What is it about this country that makes us give every tiny, globally insignificant natural incident a huge amount of prominence? Is it because they happen so infrequently that we like to make the most of them?
I've lost count over the years of the number of non-stories which have been blown up hugely by both local and national press.
You've seen the headlines: Chimney stacks stay up despite tiny earth tremor shock; Tiles fall off roof in gale-force winds - one pensioner slightly grazed; Flooding brings chaos to one street in Neston - two houses made slightly damp; Power cut leaves 20 people without the means of watching Neighbours; Two centimetres of snow brings entire country to a halt for two hours; blahdy blahdy blah...
Thankfully, with the development of communications over the last 50 years, we now know what goes on in other parts of the world, even the most remote ones.
We know thousands of children are dying every day through malnutrition, easily cured diseases and lack of care; we know that barely a month goes by without some horrendous natural disaster - be it famine, flooding, hurricane or earthquake - devastating a community somewhere in the world; and we know that man's inhumanity to man continues unabated, every single minute of every day, in more than one location...
So spare us the pathetic, self-absorbed non-stories, please.

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