Peter Rhodes: Sunshine and leafy trees? It must be Christmas

THE least convincing yuletide scene came this week in the opening episode of the Beeb's new drama series, Capital. It was allegedly Christmas Eve in London yet the sun was high in the sky and the trees were in the full leaf that goes with a green and balmy season. This "Christmas" was obviously filmed in summer.

DO such errors matter? Yes, they do. These days, no-one writes drama purely to entertain. There is always a message and an agenda. In Capital we are introduced to the wickedness of the banking industry, the greed of property developers, the gulf between rich and poor, the unkindness of the immigration system and the anger of young Muslims. We assume that what we see has been well researched. But if they can't even get the seasons right, why should we believe any of the rest?

RACHAEL Stirling gets some unconvincing TV pairings. In Detectorists (BBC4) she is the girlfriend of Mackenzie Crook who plays the layabout dreamer, Andy. In Capital (BBC1) she is married to Toby Jones; he plays the rapacious money-man Roger who spits with fury after getting only a £30,000 bonus. I am sure neither Crook nor Jones will object to being described as odd-looking and their screen characters are hardly endearing. Ms Stirling, the elegant daughter of Diana Rigg, seems to be punching well below her weight.

A GROUP of Iranian migrants denied access into Macedonia this week responded by taking some nylon thread and sewing their lips together. Just the sort of rational, well-adjusted people we want in Europe, eh?

TURKMEN guerillas? You mean you'd never heard of them during Syria's long and bloody civil war? They are the ones bombed by the Russians this week, just before the Turks shot down a Russian warplane. It is a reminder of the mind-boggling complexity of this conflict. When people talk about getting all parties around the table, remember there are about 100 major organised groups fighting Assad, IS and occasionally each other, and possibly 400 smaller groups. We're going to need a much bigger table.

FOR the past few years chief constables have been telling us that crime is decreasing. So it's hardly surprising that Chancellor George Osborne has had the police budget in his sights. If crime is so low, maybe we can afford to get rid of a few bobbies. In this week's spending review, the police budget escaped. But for how long? It would be madness if the UK were defended by 42 independent little armies, 42 independent air forces and 42 mini-navies. Yet the insanity of England and Wales being policed by 42 separate constabularies, with their own chief constables and crime commissioners, equipment and policing priorities, goes on and on. Turn 42 little empires into one police force and we could transform the service while saving billions. If Osborne isn't thinking about that, he certainly should be.

RESEARCH in Russia suggests that people who play classical musical instruments such as the cello and harp, live longer than those twanging away on electric guitars. As the journal Advances in Gerontology puts it, instruments associated with "higher intellect and education" go with a longer lifespan. I fear we ukulele players are not long for this world. Higher intellect and education are not usually associated with My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock. Worryingly, George Formby only made it to 56.