Glenn Campbell, how many circles in an image and what minor things get on your tits are some of the most popular threads at this forum currently.

This nonsense is occurring while the world might be on the brink of a massive military conflict - perhaps World War 3 - which would likely witness an exchange of thermonuclear weapons. That's absent from all discussions here.

Hasn't anyone paused to give a moment's thought to how it may affect your lives?

Just for starters, nukes flying overhead within the next fortnight would imperil the broadcast of this year's X-Factor series that's scheduled to begin on August 25th.

If the prospect of a delay, or, God forbid, cancellation of a brilliant talent show isn't enough to fill you with dread, then consider the prospect of Sky TV becoming unavailable, or, horror of horrors, the mobile phone network going down and with it being unable to send or receive inane text messages every five minutes.

I broached these topics with a stranger who was also supping ale outside a Wetherspoon this afternoon. The point about mobiles did elicit a small reaction but he soon resumed a gormless expression as he returned to playing with his iPhone.

Our doom-laden conversation was interrupted by an earwigging 30-something bloke who became very emotional about his kids. "Yes," I predicted, "millions of Britons would perish if the country was targeted with weapons of mass destruction and to answer your query, I'm sorry to inform you, should your sprogs be burnt to a crisp by radiation then you would indeed lose the Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits payments for them."