So summer is finally over and things can start returning to
"normal". The months of summer were always referred to as
the "silly season", when the British press struggled to
keep their readers' attention with a succession of frivolous
news stories – Loch Ness monster or Lord Lucan sightings were
perennial favourites – while Parliament was in recess and the
courts were not sitting. But now it seems that "hard
news" has stopped taking a summer holiday.
The Brexit vote and all the ensuing political turmoil set the
ball rolling and, what with the US elections, the fighting in
Syria, terrorist outrages, attempted coups, not to mention the
Olympic Games, it has continued to roll right through the summer.
So much so in fact that one of the sadder stories, the untimely
passing of Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor – who also happened to
be the sixth Duke of Westminster and one of Britain's
wealthiest men – attracted only brief coverage. His vast
estate was estimated to be valued at
