Friday night Follow

On the eve of the last Palestinian presidential elections, a televised message was broadcast to voters. "Hi, I'm Richard Gere," smiled its star, "and I'm speaking for the entire world ..." Did you miss the meeting at which this got decided? Does it seem like an encouraging state of affairs? Do you find it confusing that Richard Gere should claim not simply to be speaking for himself (debatable), but for the whole of Earth? Then apologies for startling you, but this is your world. Try not to choke on it. In 1990 Richard was starring in Pretty Woman; 15 years later, he was making formal interventions into Middle East politics. The saddest part is that you weren't even in a coma for that period, so future generations are going to regard you as complicit.