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.