Peter Rhodes on a beautiful spring, Trump's shiny shoes and something heading for the moon

The good news is that the “city killer” asteroid 202YR4, once reckoned to be on a collision course with Earth in December 2032, is now most unlikely to hit us.

The bad news is that it may hit the moon instead. Let us hope it does not do any serious damage. As long as human beings have looked into the night sky for romantic inspiration, one moon has been quite enough.

I cannot be the only one who watched the verbal mugging of Ukraine's President Zelensky in the White House without being reminded of The Godfather.

Here we had not Don Corleone but Don Aldo and his enforcer, J D “The Beard” Vance, demanding a little more respect from their visitor, and trying to convince him that the offer he'd just refused was an offer he couldn't refuse. This is the sort of diplomacy that can end up with a severed horse's head in your bed.

Take another look at the images of that bitter meeting and consider Trump's shoes.

They are not merely shiny but mirror-finished, as worn by people who either have a) hours to spend obsessively bulling the leather or b) a servant. Trump was immaculately dressed. Zelensky wore his usual combat T-shirt which clearly irked his host. But this spat goes deeper than fashion.

To American conservatives like Trump, warriors in T-shirts are an unsettling reminder of the likes of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Guys who don't play by the rules.

Now, that little guy in Moscow, on the other hand, he wears a smart suit, and shoes just as shiny as Don Aldo's. Yup, the sorta guy you can really trust to do a deal with . . .