The sale of the leaves and roots was a Government monopoly, and from it the Kings of Kôr derived a large proportion of their private revenue.

When you’re doing your job as a journalistic commentator in its highest form, you’re drawing new parallels, expanding the Overton Window, opening people’s minds and also ensuring them they aren’t alone in their frustrations with the status quo. When done at its most hacky, however, you’re ranting at people, making leaps and assumptions that gloss over reality, casting yourself as omniscient genius, and generally just pulling real “Sir, this is an Arby’s” shit.

Who kindly answered to his knock, such a sadful sight to see […]

His caper had failed to find a comic resolution. Instead, there had been a genre switch, and the madcap adventure had turned serious. Or had this bleakness underlain the caper from the start?