1st April 2026

In John’s account of the crucifixion Pilate asks, “What is truth?” Perhaps a deep philosophical question or perhaps trying to find what the Jewish leaders were claiming. The Romans had a goddess of truth, Veritas, and considered truth a virtue.

Truth seems to be increasingly under threat. There are those (mainly celebs) who make statements adding “This is my truth” where most of us would call it opinion. “That is a blue cheese” – truth. “Blue cheese is disgusting” – not truth, yours or mine, merely opinion.

Consider portraits. Paintings of eighteenth-century ladies look similar. Clearly the painter tried to make the client conform to what was thought to be beauty where possible. (They might not be paid otherwise.) Then came photography and we said that the camera didn’t lie. The photo showed both your wrinkles and your smile. But digital photography has changed that. Using AI you can remove your wrinkles, give yourself a glowing tan, wonderful eyebrows and fat lips and end up looking exactly like thousands of influencers on social media.

More worrying is the alteration of photos of newsworthy events by individuals, political parties, pressure groups or governments. Just add another hundred to the pictures of a political rally, put a gun in the hand of a demonstrator, put a politician’s face into an embarrassing sex picture. It is clear that the BBC and reputable newspapers are now checking photos submitted to them for this kind of interference.

Justice has always needed truth and photos will always be used as evidence.

Will we start to doubt whether anything we see or read is truth?

Margaret Clements