18 APRIL 1998, Page 26

Couch potatoes

Sir: This week we learned that the average American now spends a cumulative 11 years of his lifespan of 72 years watching television. Similar figures apply in the Unit- ed Kingdom.

We were once told that religion was the opium of the masses. Historians have criti- cised Gladstone and John Morley's role in exporting Bengal's opium harvest to China, and the entrepreneurial talent of the Sas- soons and the Jardines has been compared to that of the drug lords of Colombia. Will future historians judge the purveyors of television programmes to the illiterate as more heinous? Gresham's Law tells us that bad money drives out good money, and this certainly applies to the communications industry.

Claus von Bulow

190 Onslow Square, London SW7