I have just finished reading 'Flat Earth News' and, depressing as it is, feel oddly enlightened.

I am a social scientist who has tried for years to get journalists (at all levels in many countries) interested in some of the stuff that my colleagues and I are doing. This includes work on some key issues such as ageing, climate change, transport or health policy. To no avail. 'Too complex', 'too heady', 'no meat' is what we have been told.

I now see why.

Sad.