UN

At this week's press conference a question - which appeared to be planted - was asked about the release of intellectual property on vaccines.

Mr Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, who will, with our WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus both had extensive replies on hand, indicating that they were not taken by surprise. There is no criticism of that. However, their replies were focussed on two issues - neither of which were public safety or, ironically, intellectual property.

The news has become so driven by rapidly changing stories and sound-bytes that serious issues are increasingly hidden away or barely reported. One such issue is Egypt's resolution before the UN Security Council which condemns Israel's illegal settlement building outside its UN approved borders. Outgoing US President Obama, with only days remaining in an unremarkable double term in leadership, had made it known that the US intended to abstain, a radical course of action : historically, the US votes against any vote critical of Israel. But the vote has been postponed and the first signs of future President Trump's foreign policy have been telegraphed.