SO atrocities are happening the world over, and yet the Mail dedicated their front page to making sure you get the best deals this Black Friday.

In the news this week, Aleppo farmers are desperately trying to grow crops in disused buildings to survive, as the UN’s food supplies fast run out.

In North Dakota, a 1,200-mile-long pipeline designed to carry crude oil, has unearthed a Sioux Native American’s scared burial site and could potentially contaminate their drinking water.

The police have responded to their peaceful protests by setting attack dogs on then, arresting them en masse and holding them in temporary chain-link cages, hitting them with pepper spray and shooting them with rubber bullets.

A power station collapsed in China’ Jiangxi province, killing at least 40 people and trapping many more under the debris.

In Japan, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake has caused thousands of people to leave their homes.

In New Zealand, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake caused similar devastation.

But our papers are dedicated to Black Friday, and how to get your hands on the cheapest iPad.

Last year, the UK spent £3.3bn over the weekend, and the predicted figures for this weekend are even higher still.

On Friday, buyers will brawl over bargains, while in other parts of the world people will wake up wondering how to feed their families, or where to go as an earthquakes has destroyed their homes.

How much could some of that money help these causes and disasters? The recycling from the cardboard boxes alone, could make a city to house the homeless.

So many of us have so much, and yet all we want is more.

With that in mind, a separate campaign is running in parallel to Black Friday, called Buy Nothing Day.

Buy Nothing Day’s motto is #shoplesslivemore. The idea being you spend time, not money. The campaign’s strategy is pretty appealing.

As the year-end approaches keep in mind that an object will never make you happy.

It might for a few minutes, maybe even days, but in the end your experiences are all you’ve got.

So this year why not get your family together and do something wildly different.

Ignore Black Friday. Try buying almost nothing for Christmas and you might experience the most joyous holiday season you’ve ever had. Buy nothing and experience everything.

As well as making a stand against corporate domination, and a collective against consumerism, Buy Nothing Day also supports small business owners who cannot afford to slash their prices this weekend.

I will be taking part in Buy Nothing Day.

This does mean I’ll have to buy bread and milk today of course. I’m happy to forgo frivolous fancies, but I can’t forgo my morning tea.

The Argus: A child with a bear walks in the woods

Brighton’s news alone this week is pretty grim, police are hunting for a man who was arrested on suspicion of deliberately infecting his lovers with HIV and a former bus driver has been charged with sexual offences against four female passengers, aged between 14 and 21.

There does not seem much to be cheery about.

It’s times like these, more than ever, that I am grateful for my children.

This week my middle daughter lost her first tooth.

She sat up till past midnight hoping to see the tooth fairy, and came charging in our room, eyes alight with wonder at 7am to tell us ‘She’s been, she’s been!’

As requested, the tooth fairy left the tooth so it could be taken to school to show her beloved teacher.

Children remind you of the small, ordinary joys in life.

There is a wonderful quote by William Martin: “Do not ask your children, to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness.

"Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life.

"Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die.

"Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.”

My daughter would have been no happier with the latest laptop than she was with her first tooth falling out. Her tongue darts to the space it left and she grins, feeling so very grown up.

She can’t wait to be "big like me" so she can stay up as late as she wants, drive a car and buy sweets every day.

I wish I was her age again and able to find wonder in the plastic tie of a bread bag, or my own foot.

Oh to be six, on a swing, holding a balloon, in the rain, wearing new red wellies.

Life never really got much better than that.