A new documentary series about the war on terror, The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear, starts on BBC next Wednesday evening and is likely to attract controversy. According to this Gaurdian piece it accuses politicians of manufacturing a grand myth - the war on terror - as a form of political propaganda:

"In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power."

This description of the series by the producers should itself be sufficient to trigger a media feeding frenzy. Oh dear. I hope any rational analysis doesn't get completely buried/lost in the scrum...