I saw on today’s news that Alistair Darling has died.

He was Chancellor of the Exchequer during the 2008 financial crash and is credited by many as having been instrumental in ameliorating its consequences. That its perpetrators/enablers subsequently were not punished for causing it – as they ought to have been – cannot be laid at his door.

He seems to have been well thought of all round. Not something that can be said of the usual run of politicians.

Alistair Maclean Darling: 28/11/1953 – 30/11/2023. So it goes.

I hesitate to mention Henry Kissinger, whose death was also announced today, in the same breath. The two could hardly have been more different.

Henry (Heinz ) Alfred Kissinger: 27/5/1923 – 29/11/2023. So it goes.