Peter Rhodes on sharks, malaria, and the long-term effects of a near-assassination

According to the old hymn, God moves in a mysterious way. Even allowing for that, when it came to the Miracle of Donald, why would the Almighty cut things so fine?

Time may prove that the biggest news story of this week was not about Trump or Biden but about a disease. A cheap new vaccine developed at Oxford University offers the prospect of a malaria-free Africa. Malaria destroys millions of lives and ruins entire economies. Remove the scourge of this terrible disease and a whole continent could blossom as never before. Our grandchildren may one day ask us how we witnessed the dawn of this world-changing revolution. And we'll tell them we were watching the footie.

In the wake of the Euros, can we re-think the endless litany of gloom about the appalling level of national poverty? The series demonstrated that millions of English men and women have more than enough money to get legless at the local, or to jet around Europe for weeks on end while hurling gallons of beer (at £5 a pint) in the air. Money to burn and beer to sling? There's a lot of cash sloshing around out there, as Chancellor Reeves can't fail to notice.

Some scientists believe the slow, deep and mysterious Greenland shark can live to be 500 years old. When an image of this primordial creature appeared online a few days ago, one wag asked: “Has it considered standing as President of the United States?”