Aliens in the age of anxiety

A new US military report into UFO sightings presents compelling evidence. But of what kind of life form, if any?

1201871 Crowd Pointing at UFO, 1951 (photograph) by American School, (20th century); Private Collection; (add.info.: A crowd points to a UFO flying over the Chrysler Building in Manhattan; photograph, 1951.); Photo © GraphicaArtis; American, it is possible that some works by this artist may be protected by third party rights in some territories.

The release last week (25 June) of a Pentagon report will make millions of people very happy. Those who have been mocked for decades as fantasists, inadequates or swivel-eyed loons can now say they were right all along – the Earth is being buzzed by Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

Fastidiously renamed as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs), their existence was confirmed by the US Department of Defense (DoD) in a report to Congress. Yes, American sailors and pilots have seen things whizzing about the skies, manoeuvring at speeds and with agility unattainable by any human-made craft. Sadly, the report is sceptical of the alien hypothesis. But the alienologists will not care – after decades of denying the existence of UFOs or of coming up with dubious explanations, the DoD has finally come clean.