Paper dreams

The physical ticket – to a gig or play or comedy show or sporting event – is a vanishing entity. It has been, or at least is being, replaced by the e-ticket conveniently mailed to your inbox (a state of affairs that curiously doesn’t seem to have negated the need for a handling charge), or the QR code, to be scanned from your phone.

It may not be long before it vanishes entirely, consigned to the dustbin of history with all the other pop cultural ephemera we no longer need: DVDs; fanclubs that furnished us with badges and posters; the lost art of taping songs off the radio.

There are plenty of reasons why technology uncoupling us from physical objects is a good thing, environmental impact and convenience among them. You are less likely to lose your phone than a small