When I woke up yesterday morning, almost the first thing I saw was the announcement that Keir Starmer was to address the nation imminently. Despite the seriousness of the situation in the Middle East I’m afraid my first thought was ‘Nah, we’re all right, don’t put yourself out Keir mate’, although possibly not quite so politely expressed.

Because lecternmania – the getting out of that little prime ministerial podium to speak to the people of Britain – has got out of hand. I do wish our beloved leaders would stop it.

His line to America seems to be: ‘It’s nothing to do with us, but – if you wouldn’t mind – please continue to put your military on the line to secure our energy supplies’

His line to America seems to be: ‘It’s nothing to do with us, but – if you wouldn’t mind – please continue to put your military on the line to secure our energy supplies’

It turned out that Starmer’s big announcement was that we are not going to join in a world war. This has been the case for every other of the previous 29,416 mornings, but for some reason this one necessitated a direct address.

These lectern addresses should surely be saved up for absolutely epochal moments. Of the ones that I can remember over my lifetime, only the announcement of the first lockdown........

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