Clearing the Air

It's always refreshing to see a stereotype undermined, particularly when the object of the stereotype happens to be a sympathetic, downtrodden, underdoggy sort of person. Hence it is satisfying to note that capitalist corporations, those ever-friendly, ever-obliging global citizens who are yet so repressed that they can hardly afford to pay any tax at all, have been exonerated by the World Health Organisation of the myopically self-centred and destructive short-termism with which they are still frequently charged by society's more ignorant and backsliding elements. More than ninety per cent of the world's children are now breathing air of a quality that will sell more inhalers and aid Big Brother Pharma, while ensuring that the voter-consumers of tomorrow will be equipped with mental powers appropriate to their function. It is to be hoped that our far-sighted yet constantly underprivileged overlords will one day find themselves sucking up some fitting display of gratitude.