All the news

One of the downsides of having had Sky installed in my new flat is the news channels. I’m a current affairs junkie. I think that I can handle 11 news channels, that I’m in control - I can turn them off anytime. But I’ll just watch to the next break first. Then I’ll go to bed. Yeah, it’s easy. I can give them up anytime. I just don’t want to yet.

So, I’ve had the Fox News Channel (FNC) on for a couple of hours now. I can feel an aneurysm forming, throbbing inside my skull, but I can’t turn it off. If you’ve never watched FNC (you lucky, lucky person) it is basically the Republican news channel. Every story is a jingoistic, flag waving celebration of the American way as defined and approved by George W Bush. It’s horrid really yet disturbingly addictive.

They hate the United Nations at Fox. Hate it big time. The UN, you will recall, declared that the invasion of Iraq contravened international law. Didn't go down well. I’ll be the first to admit that there is a lot wrong with the UN, though a lot less than is wrong with Fox. There are serious questions about the probity of the Oil for Food programme. There are also the allegations, growing in number and substance about the conduct of UN troops in Africa and the lid could soon blow on a huge sex scandal. They’re hot on morality at Fox, so it's a major story.

It’s odd then that I’ve not hear a peep about this story. It concerns a paedophile and male prostitution ring and it appears to go to the heart of Bush’s Republican party. I probably just missed their in depth, fair and balanced reporting of it. I was in the bathroom or making my supper. I better watch another hour just to make sure.