France 24 is on the air. Don’t you love those old expressions? What I really mean is, it’s on the net, streaming like it’s got an online prostate problem. The little I can see of it confirms my dodgy graphic fears. The journalism? Hello Airbus! It is a reminder that the folks at Al Jazeera English have comprehensively outclassed our Gallic chums when it comes to launches.

But 24-hour news channels aren’t built in a day…if you know what I mean.