Always Wear The Happy Face

The future of Britain's fiscal and communications policies has emerged early in the Negatively Evil Republic of Korea, where a man is being prosecuted for implying that the country is perhaps not altogether favourably placed to weather the economic storm. Blogging under the name Minerva, Park Dae-sung unscrupulously posted "largely accurate forecasts" of falls in the stock market and losses on the won. The government has nevertheless detected two occasions on which he posted false information; and, in a brave if belated effort to keep false information on the internet to a minimum, has indicted Park despite the fact that lawyers are unsure about the legal grounds. The South Korean government has made a good start by prosecuting an unemployed man for an offence which may not yet exist; but if it is serious in its wish to emulate New New Labour, it will of course create the legal grounds in very short order.