I hate chewing gum. Well, not chewing gum itself, but the annoying things that a hideous proportion of gum chewers do with their gum after they have chewed it. These are the gum scum, and a conspicuous blot on Western Civilisation they are too.

During my summer blogging break, I more and more found myself ignoring politics on the internet. But I kept up with the gadget blogs, cataloguing as they do one of the most positive aspects of Western Civilisation. The gadgets just keep on coming, cheaper, smaller, better.

So, you can imagine my delight when I came across this posting at Engadget:

Revolymer's latest concoction won't play music or record your favorite shows, but if it passes European health and safety tests, it could end up in your mouth before long. The Bristol University spin-out company "claims that it has created a new material (dubbed Rev7) which can be added to gum that makes it much easier to remove from surfaces," and in testing, it actually "vanished from street surfaces within 24 hours," presumably from rain or street sweepers whisking it away. Moreover, the newfangled gum would even dissolve quicker than traditional pieces, and if all goes as planned, it could be launched as "early as next year." Shoe soles, rejoice.

And pavement cleaners. More here.

This is how Western Civilisation works. It has a problem, and people moan about it, often believing it to be insoluble without social transformation or draconian punishments. But then, the techies get to work and deploy a technical fix. I am not saying that this particular technical fix will work perfectly, or that even if it does work well, technically speaking, everything about its deployment will be good. But this at least might be a step in the right direction, gumwise.

I mean, will non-non-stick gum become illegal to sell? It shouldn't, but if mandating this new non-stick gum could result in cleaner pavements and fewer defaced adverts, you can bet your last fiver that it will be, which would be wrong. Chewing actually existing gum is not wrong; it is the throwing about of it afterwards that is the problem.

So, one step forward, half a step back is my guess as to how this story may develop next. That's Western Civilisation for you.