I was in the gym last Tuesday, cycling like a hamster in a wheel, when one of the boxing instructors came up for a chat. “What do you think of Tyson, daktari?” he asked.

We Brits have never been good at coping with heatwaves. How will we cope in thirty years time if this forecast from the UK Meteorological Office is correct?

It began online. I submitted my request for a book and was told to provide “eight working days’ notice” prior to my planned visit. I wasn’t surprised – and pleased when I was given an appointment within a few days. Not many people will want to read about the Maladies et Insectes Nuisibles (Diseases and Insect Pests), part of Auguste Chevalier’s multi-volume treatise on Les Caféièrs du Globe (Coffees of the World), published in the 1940s.

The Trump Ban is still imposed by our Only Connect Editor, even in this year and month, 250 years since the Founding Fathers threw off the British yoke and began their fight for freedom. Would they have done it if they had had even a momentary vision of the 45th and 47th President, our own hard-swearing, humourless, self-adoring Donald, building his golden ballroom?