Amazing how the world appears to slow down whenever a major event is upon us.

Think back to Kate and William’s recent visit, think how much there was going on in the world prior to that moment, think how much domestic controversy there was at the time; think how once they arrived everything just seemed to calm down. Suddenly when you turned on the evening News the world was devoid of conflict; the nation similarly bereft of any sort of discord.

Once the royals turn up they’re all a viewer sees or hears. Same can be said for the rugby union world cup, to a lesser extent the rugby league world cup and, most recently, the cricket world cup. While these events are in play, ostensibly, nothing else matters.

In a similar vein was the Ebola crisis: when this first hit the news one would have been forgiven for thinking it was a global pandemic; of course once that story had grown old, allowing something else to take priority, that same person might have imagined Ebola had been miraculously cured across West Africa and it was no longer a worldwide threat at all.

Makes me question the significance of the usual display of sensationalised and presumably hyperbolic content – if it can be pushed aside to make way for whatever’s fashionable at the time then I have to wonder how serious it was to begin with. Of course as a viewer the presenter will have you believe it’s all very important and should take utmost priority…

Providing nothing better is happening.

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Thomas Mackey

Photography by Michael Robertson