COMMENT | The saying “May you live in interesting times” is of Chinese origin and is regarded as being typically oriental in that it can be interpreted as both a blessing and a curse.

Sure, who doesn’t want to live in interesting times?

Politically, interesting times are taken to be periods when there is much speculation as to what would happen next.

The chattering classes have much to ponder over drinks in coffee shops. There are enough intrigue and titillation to keep the mills churning.

This can be a blessing when things are dull and in need of enlivening; it is a curse when important matters impend but both the intelligentsia and the hoi polloi prefer intrigue and gossip to the kind of creative thinking that is the matrix for solutions to urgent problems...