Twenty-one employees at a toll plaza on the Agra-Lucknow E-way expressed their displeasure over a meagre Diwali bonus in a novel way: they abandoned their posts, opened the gates and thousands of vehicles passed through without paying charges. An immediate loss of lakhs of rupees ensured the toll company did a dramatic turnaround, offering the staff an instant 10% pay rise.

Highway robbery just acquired a whole new meaning and, somehow, it feels weirdly aspirational. Poetic justice, perhaps? We know the world is rigged in favour of the men in charge; so when the working-class hero pushes back, breaks a rule or two to get his due, it doesn’t feel like a crime. Rather, it feels right.

Similarly, the 7-minute Louvre heist has turned into terrific comedy material. However much the French are lamenting the “national disaster”, the audacity with which the thieves operated has given an audience exhausted by the news of war and starvation, a much-needed........

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