The other day I was watching one of those car crash TV talk shows; you know the ones, the type that Jerry Springer made so popular. Probably like me you wonder what on earth would induce these people to wash their dirty laundry in public, surely no one is that desperate for 15 minutes of fame? I am now convinced that these programmes are helping to perpetuate the behaviour that is the most worrying in society. In one show the audience, after hearing a catalogue of horrific and depressing insights into one couple’s marriage had to vote on their keypads whether the miserable pair should get divorced or not! What ever happened to the sanctity of marriage, respect for each other and just common decency? Then there is the endless stream of young people queuing up for DNA testing to see who out of a field, in one instance, of a staggering 12 was the baby’s father! What message are we sending? That this type of behaviour is likely to get you on TV and treated like a half decent human being for the day? Is that what we should be aspiring to? It’s a sad sad world and on a completely different topic these programmes and their hellish population serve as a daily reminder to us all of what living in a country without an affordable dental service will do for you.