Big News, Little News.

The England football team won the first game of their World Cup campaign two night’s ago by beating Tunisia 2-0, and the man who scored England’s two goals happened to be called Harry. Now, you might remember that another man called Harry was one of the star attractions of a high profile wedding recently, along with a woman called Meghan. It seems the England football match gained higher TV viewer ratings than the royal wedding, and so The Sun newspaper covered its front page today with the words:

Harry

Topples

Meghan

There were a couple of pictures included, but there was virtually nothing else on the front page.

It’s sad, isn’t it? The Sun, it seems, considers the viewing figures for a football match to be the most important event of note in the British calendar today and no doubt the coincidence of names is full justification for the belief. It makes you want to go far and away to rid yourself of the persistent sense of nausea engendered by the tabloid press. And the fact that The Sun remains one of the best selling dailies over here really doesn’t say much for the average Briton.

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But over on the other side of the pond we have the spectre of innocent children being taken from their already beleaguered parents and placed in the sort of holding pens which civilised countries don’t even put animals into any more. Mr Trump says it’s necessary, and I suppose there’s a certain logic to commend it. I imagine the purpose is to persuade other beleaguered parents not to attempt the crossing, and I suppose it probably will in some cases.

But it means that innocent children are being used as a leverage tool, which isn't so very different from holding children up as human shields in a fire fight, a practice which the US rightly condemns every time it's observed. This is the action not of a statesman but a cruel and unprincipled tyrant, and yet I gather the latest polls indicate an approval rating of 45% for Mr Trump. And that, I would venture to suggest, doesn’t say very much for the average American.

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My own event of note today was that I didn’t only see the Lady B, I actually spoke to her. She told me that she is doing well after giving birth to her baby, and she further told me her daughter’s name in response to my enquiry. She was also at pains to point out that she was in too much of a hurry to chat since she needed to get back to Baby M as soon as possible. Well, that’s about as good a reason as any young mother could have to keep a conversation short and I was more than happy to accede. I’d been given as much intelligence as I felt I had reasonable grounds to expect, and the interests of children must, as always, be paramount.