Reaching for stars

SO MUCH energy is spent fretting about what we can’t have but probably don’t need. Separating need from desire is the permanent frontline in consumer societies.

Advertising and spin are the weapons of mass destruction and our insecurities — our children’s too — the weak points.

Maybe, just maybe, this keeping-up-with-the-Jones gene is one that pushed us to the top of the food chain and allowed our dominance of the planet to become so destructive and increasingly irreversible.