When I was a kid, I loved the comic 2000 AD. I remember buying the first edition, which I still have and which is apparently worth a fortune, in 1977. I was just seven. It was way too grown-up for me, but I was obsessed, particularly with the strip Future Shock.

For the uninitiated, 2000 AD was a sci-fi mash-up of adventure, horror and comedy. Future Shock was like an early Black Mirror, imagining the dystopias of the 21st century to come.

Being a wee boy, these tales regularly blew my tiny mind. I'd finish Future Shock (aptly named) and my brain would boggle.

To recover, I'd retreat into more age-appropriate cultural delights, like Bagpuss. I needed a cleansing, gentle sorbet of sweet cartoons to purge the psychic toll.

I've treated entertainment pretty much the same ever since. I'll read Last Exit to Brooklyn and then pick up P G Wodehouse. A night of horror movies is followed by Mamma Mia!. An evening of punk precedes a morning of Mozart.

SNP talk of pact with Farage in return for indyref2 should revolt every Yes voter

Dry your eyes, Stephen Flynn. Why shouldn't the media scrutinise SNP spending?

This is great: I am so enjoying Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘couldn’t GAF’ attitude right now

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A fella needs both yin and yang in his life; light and shade.

The only imbalance is with the news, especially these days. It's a vision of hell. There's no break from war, hate and cruelty. But, holy moly, we need some respite.

I'm not demanding kumbayas be sung every day, but a few quirky, oddball tales driven by the strangeness of eccentrics and the vagaries of life would be a welcome antidote to the relentless bloody misery.

So I'd like to thank two rising stars of the Scottish news cycle: 'Entitled American........

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