ON Tuesday, I went to Plymouth to meet service providers in connection with a study ordered by David Cameron into provision for people injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. I met two amputees - one who had lost an arm and a leg and one a triple amputee.

These guys are owed the very best help we can give them to return their lives to some semblance of normality. There is much enthusiasm in the NHS limb centres I have visited to continue to cater for their needs and we need to ensure this is supported by necessary funding.

* Am I alone in resenting the obsession by the British media with the FIFA corruption allegations?

It appears that the story commands few column inches in the rest of the world. The facile question put by our press is whether the actions of a few individuals in charge of its governing body will fundamentally affect our attitude towards the beautiful game. Scribblers responsible for such nonsense should get out more - preferably to some Saturday league fixtures.

* Unless you take a Malthusian view of the world, we are all facing a century of crisis unless we are able to dramatically improve food and clean water provision. To cope with a burgeoning population we will have to render productive previously marginal land and the holdings of subsistence farmers.

Ideologues may resent the incursion of agro-business, clinging to the quaint idea that the developing world can rely on artisans and on peasant produce. That’s a really big ask.

Like it or not, large scale inward investment is looking a more reliable prospect. The bread baskets of Africa, so comprehensively trashed by the likes of the murderous Robert Mugabe, must be returned to large scale, mechanised production and as soon as possible.