Irish Examiner view: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a UFO

The description of objects are being picked up by US radar which cannot be immediately identified as "unidentified flying objects" is technically correct, but culturally loaded.

The US on Friday, February 10, blacklisted six Chinese entities it said were linked to Beijing's aerospace programmes as part of its retaliation over an alleged Chinese spy balloon that traversed the country's airspace. Picture: Anna Griffin/Missourian via AP, File

Noting civilisation’s gradual slide into the abyss has been an entertaining parlour game for centuries. 

The signifiers of decline and fall have always been numerous to those searching for them — so numerous, in fact, that Sports Illustrated ran a regular feature called ‘This Week’s Sign of the Apocalypse’ for years. It was never short of material.