Peter Rhodes on a marine miracle, a rejected runway and the arrival of a baby boy

Why is coronavirus spreading so quickly? Because we travel too much. Why is the city air unfit to breathe? Because we travel too much. Why are temperatures rising? Because we travel too much. Why are the storms and floods so extreme? Well, you've probably guessed it by now.

So how odd it is that as all these global pigeons are coming home to roost, some people are still banging the drum for that ultimate symbol of too much travel, the third runway at Heathrow. Thankfully, the Appeal Court takes the opposite view, making the point that climate-change law is not some aspirational fig-leaf for liars but real law that must be obeyed. So it's now a stack-up between the courts and big business. Don't open the champagne just yet.

The only acceptable narrative on reporting the state of our planet is of misery, drought, chemical poisoning and the wholesale loss of habitats and species. Which may explain why the following item has barely been reported. Scientists who expected to find one or two blue whales in the waters around South Georgia have just counted a “truly, truly amazing” total of 55. It seems these vast creatures, hunted almost to extinction in the 20th century, are making a magnificent comeback. This is good news but, sadly, the rules of eco-reporting apply. Good news equals bad news, equals small headlines.

"Austerity has taken a significant toll on equity and health,” according to Health Equity In England, a study by Professor Sir Michael Marmot which comes 10 years after his first analysis of the health gap between rich and poor. Let's be frank. If you compare people now with people 10 years ago, the most obvious difference is not that that they have less money but that they are much bigger. Government spending limits may be partly to blame for early deaths but what about obesity?

Did you spot the subtle clue in the final episode of Endeavour (ITV)? It was the villain's name - Ludo. Sure enough the episode, set in 1970 and ending with a shoot-out in Venice was utterly, totally, embarrassingly ludicrous. It was as though most of the script had been crafted by professionals but the last few minutes had been written by a Year Eight drama class. Morse and Thursday grabbed a pair of pistols from the police armoury and travelled from Oxford to Venice in a matter of hours where Thursday shot Ludo on the banks of the Grand Canal. Is that how Thames Valley Police operated in the days before the European arrest warrant?

Between starting and finishing this column, a page turned in the book of life. Little Ruben arrived, three weeks premature, weighing 7lbs 3oz with a shock of black hair, and I became a grandfather. It makes you feel proud. It makes you feel old. And on we go.