"People want to sort of turn their brain off and escape to things that make them feel good, " opines In Touch Editor in Chief Richard Spencer, who says he's made a conscious effort in recent weeks to include more uplifting stories in his publication for this very reason.

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So it's always uplifting to hear stories about the handful of people brave enough to stand up and intervene.

BBC: Saluting 'local heroes of conservation'

They liked realistic art (proper pictures of proper things), classical music traditionally interpreted, and good solid stories with a nice uplifting moral.

ECONOMIST: Soviet cultural history