It used to be the case that one took some note of leaders in the newspapers, but these days the offerings seem so trite that one just pops in occasionally to sneer and jeer.
So it is with the Failygraph of "Spitfire" fame, which is proving consistently worthy of its nickname, its current leader on the water shortages being a model of superficiality. It shallowness competes with the reservoir it depicts.
Not for this newspaper is there any thought that the current rainfall deficit is well within normal variation. Nor is there any talk of the fact that the population has increased since privatisation by a factor greater than the current water shortfall, without there having have been any increase in storage capacity.
And the question of leakage rates is obviously far too complex for the leader writers, so there is no reminder that just one water company drains away more than the entire annual deficit for the whole country. Such matters have to be left to lowly blogs and the Booker column, unloved and unread by the self-important leader writers.
Instead, ignoring all these things, ignoring the fact that we have been taken for a ride by the water companies who have been feathering their own nests while failing to invest in upgrading the infrastructure, the paper tells us that we can no longer take our water for granted.
Instead of hosepipe bans, it suggests that "a better approach would be to let people pay extra for what they use", as well as compulsory metering.
So, let's get this straight. After being robbed blind by largely foreign-owned water companies, which have taken their consumers for granted, the Failygraph says, out of the kindness of the water companies' hearts, presumably, we should be allowed to pay more actually to get some water from them.
Is it any wonder that the media, alongside the politicians, are increasingly the subject of derision.
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