The other is a new fascination with externals, with appearance and make belief. The first is an obsession with sex as a form of national sport that unites young and old alike both online and in real time. Underneath all this, however, two other endemic obsessions have recently crept in and taken root among us. The material of good political entertainment.

We have to admit that the ongoing pageant of presidential aspirants is an impressive circus with limitless comic value. The rave of the moment is not only the raging politics of presidential stampede.