Christopher Middleton
star invites you to taste one tiny drop from the golden goblet of fame. Insist on a selfie and the hapless victim is inviting you to sink your star-hungry fangs into their neck and take a great big swig.
Of course, here in the West we view paparazzi as the price people pay for being famous. But there are plenty of countries where people object to you photographing them, on the grounds that you are stealing not just their likeness, but their soul.
It’s a hunger that can get out of hand. How ironic that the Roman deity Diana was the goddess of hunting, but it was the real-life Princess Diana who, when she died, was being pursued by a pack of photographers as her brother, Earl Spencer, pointed out at her funeral.
The Bic may not be mightier than the iPhone or iPad, but it does less harm.