The first cuckoo?

It would be hard for me to get by without Radio 4. Apart from real ale, it was the only good reason for not emigrating. Now that it’s easy to listen to Radio 4 almost anywhere in the world, the beer is the one thing worth staying in England for.

Obviously, it isn’t perfect. The Archers, about three-quarters of the ‘comedies’, Any Questions, Paul Gambiccini . . .

But such horrors are outnumbered by its riches; In Our Time, Document, Ed Reardon’s Week, FOOC, The Long View . . . Not to mention Charlotte Green.

It is rare that Today can be counted among the riches.

But this morning I heard a couple of items about the Eurozone crisis that had me swooning with joyful amazement. Firstly there was Steve Evans, the Berlin correspondent, commenting on German disillusionment with the Euro. Such expressions as ‘increasing disenchantment’ and ‘hardening of attitudes’ passed his lips.

That however, was only a taster, an hors d’oeuvre.

Not cricket?

The England versus India test series is proving something of a disappointment. Hailed as the contest to decide the world’s leading test side, India just aren’t putting up enough fight.

Not only that, but Sachin Tendulkar still hasn’t got his hundredth international hundred.

There can hardly be a lover of the game, anywhere in the world, who doesn’t want the Little Master to pass that milestone. He is not only a great cricketer