"Heidi Klum has given Victoria Beckham a year’s supply of cupcakes as a birthday present". Seeing that headline in a national newspaper, you would be forgiven for thinking that maybe the scale of world events that week (Afghanistan, Burma, food crises) didn’t quite live up to their potential. Or at least not enough to edge this story off The Daily Mail’s agenda.

Model Klum, it said, spent £1,000 on a year’s supply of cupcakes for Posh’s 34th birthday. "Ms Klum has arranged for a dozen of the confections to be delivered to the Beckhams’ Los Angeles home at 3pm every Friday," droned the Mail. "She eats one a day throughout the week - the other five going to her husband and children." We could go on, but there’s already enough misery in the world.