Never mind the lack of summer weather. Where were the fun news stories?

Well done to David Walliams swimming the Thames last week. It was so good to have something on the news that wasn’t doom and gloom. I know that “no news is good news”, but as the nights draw in, I need something to cheer me up. I could avoid the news altogether and stick to Strictly Come Dancing, and sometimes I do switch off the Today Programme when a particularly harrowing item comes on, but I feel obliged to have at least some knowledge of what’s going on in the world. I think what makes it worse is that there wasn’t a proper summer break. I had lots of great time off, thank you, and unlike many, I wasn’t bothered by the old-fashioned British weather – but there was no break in grim news. What happened to the silly season? Summer is supposed to be full of light-hearted stupid news to discuss on the sun lounger, but everyone kept talking about the riots ... it seemed that society and our economy were doomed. I am used to being pessimistic about the world during term time, but it didn’t seem right when I was paddling in the bracing seas of the south coast.