From the editor: In actual fact…

The other day I fed myself some fake news. I didn’t realise I’d done it until I wrote it down on my Facebook page: “The calories consumed when hormonal don’t count. I know this because I believe it. That’s how facts work, right?”

It was a joke but I also realised that I could easily fool myself into just accepting this clear falsehood as truth, simply because I wanted to. Giving me pause for thought for the passion in the face of the facts exhibited by the Trump voters we see on the TV. And how really both of us were adhering more to our own warped ‘faith’ in made up words than any other system that I can see to explain our easy dismissal of how wrong we both might be.

I do *know* that I can get fat eating double pudding, but somehow it gets filed away under whether Smurfs *really* lived at the bottom of our garden when I was five, and how super safe travelling by air really is. It’s almost like knowing without accepting. Which certainly works well for my local confectioners, if not for the state of America’s involvement with global warming.

We know it’s hot at the moment, so with that as a solid fact it’s good that the Sussex Wildlife Trust are on hand with advice as to how to help keep local creatures happy and healthy (p11). We know that Brighton & Hove’s Artists Open Houses is a great showcase, so it’s worth taking note that registration is now open (p10). Real news that actually benefits our environment and community. That’s how facts really work.

Victoria Nangle
editorial@thelatest.co.uk