Good advertising and bad advertising

Here are two pre-Christmas columns that might be of interest, one serious, and one less so.

The serious one is about the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act, or RICA (it’s easy! it’s free!), as the happy mobile operator adverts put it. It’s not some freebie, some bonus. It’s a dangerous and costly exercise that makes communication more expensive, and more vulnerable to an overbearing state.

But it’s Christmas. And what would Christmas be without its thoroughly tacky, plastic commercialisation? Who am I to attack it? Instead, here’s a defence of Boney M in supermarkets.

Enjoy, and to all, I wish you a joyful, relaxed Christmas and an entertaining, wealthy 2010.