John Mordred knows exactly what to make of "fake news", and how seriously to take it. It's just a trendy name for one of politics' oldest gimmicks. Take its latest incarnation. Can it really be that a few maverick intelligence agents from Russia and the United States are fighting a discreet battle-to-the-death on some of London's back streets? And that the corpses are piling up, out of sight of the British police? And even that the whole thing could spiral at any moment into God knows what version of World War Three? Some chance. But think again, John. The first two times the boy cried wolf were fake news. The third was a catastrophe. For everyone. One in three. Not great odds. But given all the disinformation out there, it could be even worse. Can't anyone trust to good old fashioned chance nowadays?

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