Our local library always has a special display of light reading for summer, which I examine with interest. I certainly can’t argue with the adjective “light.” Some of these books are so lacking in substance that you half expect them to drift off the shelves and out the library window. The general assumption seems to be that a little sunshine boils our brains away, so that only the lightest of light entertainment can be tolerated. As far as I remember the passion for “light” really took off in the 1970s with foodstuffs. All of a sudden “light” products – often spelled L-I-T-E due to the inadequate schooling of food industry PR people – began appearing on the supermarket shelves. Fat was removed from meat, caffeine from coffee, alcohol from beer, and almost everything from milk which was and is labeled as containing 1% or 2% milk, or no milk at all, as if this was an advantage. More and more products were promoted for what they didn’t contain. We were offered sugarless cookies, sausages