The British intelligence agency GCHQ has tapped into undersea fibre-optic cables to hoover up telephone conversations and Internet traffic, according to documents seen by The Guardian newspaper. Codenamed “Tempora,” the secret surveillance programme is said to be on an even larger scale than the US-led Prism scheme revealed by US whistleblower Edward Snowden earlier this month. So much for Hague’s reassurances.

Documents leaked from two government agencies in the UK suggest that Planning Minister Nick Boles is routinely ignoring Green Belt election pledges made by David Cameron. So much for election manifestos.

Two top executives at the stricken Anglo Irish Bank have been caught on tape allegedly admitting that the lender suckered the Irish government into a €7bn (£6bn) bail-out knowing that far more was needed. So much for professional ethics.

Defra has been caught lying about what it costs to inoculate badgers against bovine TB. But Owen Paterson has gone ahead anyway to organise a badger cull. So much for good governance.

It is, I’m sorry to say, all a bit of a bloody mess. But the only way is up: let’s try and remember that.