Dearest Gentle Reader, this Thursday brings a Governor warning of gilded towers built upon speculation, a levy upon the vapours beloved of the young, and - amid the noise of policy and pageantry - the passing of a woman who changed this Kingdom quietly and permanently. This Author has words for all of it, and a raised eyebrow for most of it.

Dearest Gentle Reader, this Friday brings a bitten constable in Norfolk, a World Cup footballer who is apparently shocked - quite shocked - to find himself charged with assault, and a man in Coleraine brought low by a measurement of ten centimetres. This Author has raised both eyebrows and cannot promise to lower them before luncheon.