Apologies for the slogging deficit today: other people’s children, a degree of deep thinking, and some corroboratory phone calls got in the way – all of which were, I have to say, a welcome relief. I hope that – with some good fortune – much of today’s effort will repay readers over the next few days.

My doing this is usually the signal for the Moon to explode or similar, but today has been almost bereft of real news…..we’ve had a certainty of inevitabilities rather than a party-bag of surprises: the US gdp slowed in Q2 ; there was an Arab pow-wow in Beirut to stop Muslims squabbling among themselves; the markets have been calmed by early getaways for August holidays; Hollywood’s summer movies are trying to sell pointless sequels and lame remakes; Sarah Palin was rude about Barack Obama (she’s trying to move more mainstream); Berlusconi’s government is in trouble; and Blue Chip America Minting Money as Bigger Dividends Must Bow to Investment.

That last one is not a surprise either, because it’s a headline from the Bloomberg website. It’s a great site if you really want to get informed opinion about why some short-term things are taking place; it’s just a struggle to get past the increasingly surreal syntax they use on the summary page.

I thought Campaign magazine was bad enough (‘BBH scoops slice of Nestle drive’) but Bloomberg’s lines are beyond parody. Anyway, pass me the blue-chip & mint ice cream somebody, I must bow to the inevitable dividend of weekend rest – and invest some time in the garden.