Space odyssey

The light pollution at Chequers can’t be that bad in semi-rural Bucks, so perhaps someone should suggest to our troubled PM that next time he has a weekend off he should take a look upwards to the night sky. It might help him to realise that the petty squabbles and ambitious pretensions of his Cabinet colleagues are as nothing in the big scheme of things. Or perhaps he should tune in every weekday afternoon to Cosmic Quest, the latest long-running documentary series on Radio Four. For six weeks, Heather Couper will be leading us on a journey through the history of our knowledge of the universe, from the earliest-known attempts of the Babylonians to catalogue the stars to the most recent odyssey to Mars. It’s a fascinating exposition, and at 15 minutes each the episodes are short enough to take in during a tea break or pause between meetings. It certainly could help to clear Gordon’s mind of 10p tax nightmares and the horrors of Crewe and Nantwich.