Satires like White Lotus backfire: they make us want to be rich too

The closer a comedy gets to skewering the lives of the super-rich, the more attractive their lives look.

- Paul Flynn

IN two short, fabulous seasons, The White Lotus has become the first legitimate cult classic TV franchise of the 2020s. The HBO show sets a new high bar for noir comedy by playing a clever sleight of hand.

Set amidst ludicrously luxurious holiday resorts - first in Hawaii, now Sicily - it catches the highest earning one per cent at their tensest, in the summer fortnight they should be most relaxed.

Flashing barely-thumbed, intellectually-approved paperbacks on sun-loungers, peering over Tom Ford sunglasses, quaffing daytime cocktails and dining in exquisite splendour beside perfect orange sunsets, the residents of The White Lotus are aspiration itself. Look what money could buy us! This gorgeous confection of chic service, matching Goyard luggage, spa services and sex on tap is the ultimate, irresistible holiday package. If only we, too, were brushing shoulders with billionaires.