It’s Thursday evening when I arrive at the flat belonging to Kyle Martin. The living room is in disorder, used take away trays are stacked beside his chair while a bedpan overflows near the door. Kyle is so determined to catch up on the news he has not left this room for a week.
‘I just wanted to be better informed,’ explained Kyle. ‘We seem to be living in a transformative time but I have been sleep walking through it. I decided to take my day off and use it to get caught up but there is just too much news.’
Confused by the sheer amount of stories, news items bleed together within Kyle’s mind. ‘The stuff about Ed Miliband’s dad is just crazy. Who would have thought someone like Ed could be the son of Frank Sinatra?’
Desperate, Kyle came up with a proposal to help himself and those like him. ‘Just stop all the news for 24 hours. Have nobody do anything for one day. No knew policy initiatives, no party conferences and a ceasefire in Syria.’ When it was put to him that asking for the fighting in Syria to stop just so he can catch up on the news, Kyle said, ‘If Bashar al-Assad cannot stop killing children for one day then he has a serious problem and probably needs professional help.’
Before I left Kyle thanked me for getting his story out. As I watched him place toothpicks beneath his eyelids, I decided against point out that he has just added the mountain of news media he wanted to stop.