A quiet morning on Radio 4’s Today Programme so there’s time for an item about the evolution of the eye (Oxford physiologist’s grand theory about species expansion undermined on air by Cambridge biologist pointing out that the former has his dates wrong), time for an interview with a slippery Sinn Fein representative (refusing to answer simple questions from James Naughtie about refusing to answer simple questions from the UK government), and time for one of those reports from a Far Off Poor Country Where Bad Things Are Happening.

Where better for the last than the amusingly named Democratic Republic of Congo? There, UN “peacekeepers” can’t even protect the base of their own humanitarian mission from looters. What unoriginal excuse do they offer for their failure even in this simple task? Insufficient troops. You can bet no one on TV is going to be putting on a concerned voice and demanding explanations about that story…