I don’t have many claims to sporting fame but I did once share a swimming lane with the recently departed, and luxuriously mustachioed, David Wilkie MBE, and thought I held my own for a good fifteen metres of the pool. Give or take ten.

Many of us will have welcomed the US court ruling t’other week regarding Meta, YouTube et al. The twenty year old plaintiff had sued the parent companies of four social platforms for damaging her mental health by intentionally addicting her to their products.

We’re all painfully aware that Tiny Hands can’t get his story straight as to why he launched a war against Iran and, in the absence of a clear explanation, many appear to have latched onto the claim that it’s a crusade, a holy war. Former TV personality, second lieutenant and current secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, bears much of the responsibility for this.

Our criminal courts are massively backlogged, dangerously close to collapse and the Government is proposing to limit the use of juries in England and Wales. Is the plan justified?

Irrespective of where you stand on the current US/Iran conflict, I think everyone’s pretty much agreed that it has been kicked-off in a half-cocked, cack-handed manner.

The job numbers released last month were the starkest and most sobering seen in decades. Unemployment has climbed to over five percent and one in six young people are officially unemployed, including over a million not in education or training.

Unlike his direct predecessor, King Charles III always knew his reign would be relatively short. However, he probably never thought it would witness the most consequential and damaging crisis since his namesake lost his own head in 1649.

I just can’t figure them out.

Only eighteen short months ago, Reform UK was nothing more than a curiosity on the fringe of the political landscape. Now it’s the main event. Even with the recent high-profile Tory defections the party has just eight MPs but is still on course to either form or lead the next British government.

With Britain pledging soldiers to a multinational Ukraine force and allocating £200m to fund preparations for the possible deployment of troops, the question is what state is our armed forces actually in and are we up to the job?