The only evidence proffered for such falsification was an obviously doctored photograph showing a male body wearing a Gucci coat and sporting a Rolex watch ; but with her head superimposed. One may surmise from this example of misinformation in the social .media that it was either a cheap publicity stunt to promote expensive fashion or a Ukrainian counter-plot to convince us that the regime is being deliberately maligned.

Corruption is endemic in a modern society where avarice is top of the deadly sins. There can be few of us who have never experienced the thrill of being suborned or of being tempted to offer favour in return for reward. With governments, the incidence is ratcheted up by the abundant opportunities which the system offers to politicians and civil servants who are only too anxious to join the bandwagon to wealth at public expense. And the harbingers of war bring shortages of food, armaments and morality which tempt all of us to turn spivish .

As Mr. Clare drily observes, influencers desiring affluence should just Follow the Money !

by email, Roberto Cavaleiro, Tomar