Till now I have found the ubiquitous coverage of the anti-Government demonstrations in Iran on our key news broadcasters in Europe to be merely a minor nuisance as regards my news intake. The BBC, Euronews and similar mainstream stations have merely replaced their Kiev-written scripts about the war as lead news items at the top of the hour with Washington-written scripts about the disturbances in Iran. Both propaganda scripts are tedious and compel me to flip channels to Mezzo, even if I am not particularly in the mood for classical music at that moment.

But this afternoon the propaganda deluge has reached a new dimension. As I strolled down Avenue Louise on my way home from my swim club, I was struck by a new advertising display on the sidewalk which replaced the usual promotional ads for wine or veggies at discounted prices by one or another of the supermarket…