Dearest Gentle Reader, this Saturday has delivered independence, invasion, and interplanetary intrigue in such rapid succession that This Author's quill has scarcely had time to dry. From the triumphant shores of North Britain to the rather less triumphant shores of the English Channel, the day's affairs are nothing short of extraordinary - and that is before one even glances skyward.

Dearest Gentle Reader, this Thursday brings a cruise ship plagued by pestilence, a constabulary once again called to account for sins of omission, and a gentleman of the digital salons who has invented a most creative new business model - one this Author suspects the magistrates will find equally creative. There is also, amid the shadows, a six-year-old boy who may be the finest soul in the Kingdom.