Our new 'Word Of The Day' article update : bread and circuses , n :
Food and entertainment provided by the state, particularly if intended to placate the people. (by extension) Grand spectacles staged or statements made to distract and pacify people. The Western Roman Empire is conventionally regarded as having fallen on this day in 476 C.E., when Odoacer deposed the 16-year-old Emperor Romulus Augustulus.