Growing pains

Just in case you're not already sufficiently grumpy and depressed about the phenomenon that is Black Friday, you can always rely on the Guardian's George Monbiot to do the job. He highlights the incontrovertible damage that our insatiable lust for consumption is wreaking, and goes further in claiming that sustainable growth is an impossible myth.

All characteristically grim and ominous, though he does undermine his argument somewhat by drawing his readers' attention to the existence of a device called a PancakeBot, "a 3D batter printer that allows you to eat the Mona Lisa, the Taj Mahal or your dog's bottom every morning". If you're wondering what to get me for Christmas, there's your answer.