Truly the best medicine

There is not, we’re afraid, much to laugh about in the world, these days. Raging ideologues fight over who should enjoy the honour of driving the UK over the Brexit cliff, a lying huckster occupies the White House, while the Russian regime undermines democracies.

In the face of such awfulness, sometimes the only option is to laugh. Otherwise, one might weep.

And so we offer our thanks to the stand-up comedians who have worked so hard to lighten our lives during the Edinburgh Fringe. As is now customary, an award has been made for the joke considered to be the best – but even the winning oneliner has a rather bleak aspect.

Liverpudlian Adam Rowe found inspiration in the fear of unemployment: “Working at the Jobcentre has to be a tense job – knowing that if you get fired, you still have to come in the next day.”

Poets and novelists and philosophers might wrestle with the world in order to find some truth. Comedians do precisely that while also making us laugh. Congratulations, Adam Rowe. And to your fellow stand-ups, thanks for brightening these dark times.