And there was an atmosphere of something like impunity.
What is extraordinary and unsettling about O'Brien's novel is the way that it begins in an atmosphere of something approaching pastoral comedy, and steadily darkens as we become acquainted with the buried but unrepressed war crimes of the town's resident trickster.
Navalny told me that state-run television, by far the most dominant medium in Russia, has been replete with Olympic propaganda in recent weeks, with constant images of "running the torch around the country and into outer space … In every city, they create a big celebration, with children coming into the streets to meet the torch, trying to create an atmosphere of something good coming.
Despite the Royal Society's good intentions to increase the narrow age range of their fellows, an arbitrary cut-off point contributes to an atmosphere of exclusion, something the Turner prize realised when it abandoned its under-50 stipulation this year.
Eurogamer scored the game 10/10 saying "Right from the start it conjures an atmosphere of being something special, but to keep that level of quality up consistently over 60 hours ensures that this will be a game that will be talked about for years to come".
3.35pm: Ben Smith is no doubt right: "I agree to a certain extent that some of the coverage has been a touch patronising, but I think the reason many people wanted Ghana to succeed on Friday was that it helped to create an atmosphere of excitement, of something new and different.
It seemed that perhaps what the Egyptian revolution has so far delivered most successfully is an atmosphere of open discussion, something that was unthinkable under Mubarak.
Perhaps more importantly for the masses in both countries, cricket and hockey matches have been played in an atmosphere of great cordiality, something we never expected would happen so fast.
Melodies meander incoherently with more attention paid to creating an atmosphere of unease than forming something substantial, or even memorable.
But, imagine a mansion with the depth of storytelling and atmosphere of something like Gone Home, only with the occasional corridor full of zombies for you to tear through?
They have an energy, an invention, a kind of gorgeousness, and an atmosphere of success, of having pulled something off against heavy odds, that set them apart from Salle's other works.
