I was just watching breakfast TV as usual, and I think I’ll point something out so obvious that just about everyone would have noticed it, but I feel compelled to blog about it anyway. One of the Beeb’s main news items this morning was of course the follow up to the horrific events in Cleveland, in which seven people were killed in a car crash following a police chase: teenagers baiting the police, thinking they could get away from the cops, their juvenile arrogance resulting in cataclysmic tragedy.

But then, just a few minutes later, the BBC has an item about the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, a video game where players steal cars and drive recklessly away from police; in which crime seems to be glamourised and presented to it’s naive young players as a sign of male bravado and masculinity. I surely can’t be the only person to see the blindingly obvious connection here! On the one hand we are lamenting carnage caused by teenagers stealing cars, while giving them games to play which glamourise and fetishise that very activity. The link is so obvious it’s idiotic. The weird thing is, nobody on the breakfast programme seemed to note it.