Alain de Botton argues that in our mad desire to keep up with what's new, we have lost our ability to concentrate. We are made to feel, he says, that "at any point, somewhere on the globe, something may occur to sweep away old certainties". How was it, he wonders, that for Christians, there has been no news of "world-altering significance to their faith" since 30 AD? He suggests that a period of fasting from our obsession with "news" may be what's needed.

Producer: Adele Armstrong.