The optimism was incredible. Henman Hill transformed into Murray Mound; millions of TV viewers tuning in; all frantically hoping that a Brit might for once win Wimbledon. It didn't happen and now nobody's that surprised. Why should they be? No male Brit has won the thing for about 70 years.

Last week a US drone struck a Taliban funeral, narrowly missing Baitullah Mehsud, but killing one of his key bomb makers.

Few Pakistanis would miss Mehsud. His latest innovation is to pay between US$7,000-14,000 to either the kidnappers of, or parents of, children as young as seven, who he uses as suicide bombers. This sort of money talks in a society where the average per capita income is US$2,600 pa.

The other night I went to see Waiting for Godot - the production everyone has been shouting about, with the all-star cast of Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Simon Callow and Ronald Pickup.

A devastating picture of the family courts in crisis because of underfunding was painted last night by Sir Mark Potter, president of the High Court Family Division.

Michael Shields, a 22-year-old football fan serving 10 years in prison for the attempted murder of a Bulgarian waiter in 2005, was told today that he is unlikely to receive a free pardon - despite his claims of innocence.

Newspapers hate giving credit to rivals, so when an article in one is cited in another you can guarantee that it is a significant piece of work. John Kay's analysis in the FT on the state of the public finances has already made it into the Times and the Spectator, and I can't say I'm surprised. It is jaw-dropping.

Something a bit unusual this morning: a chance to watch a 20-minute interview with the greatest judge of his generation. You can see my discussion with Lord Bingham here.

Anne Midgette, music critic of The Washington Post, has an interesting survey on her blog 'The Classical Beat': she wants to find out whether people still buy CDs.

How big is the swing to downloads? Who is listening to what? Is the inclination of labels like Naxos towards unusual repertoire being reflected in people's buying and listening experiences? And now that the big record companies are generally acknowledged to be in very deep do-do, ever more musicians are turning to independent, own-brand or 'artist-led' labels to make the recordings of their choice: so, paradoxically, more CDs are appearing than ever. Are they more than a calling-card for performers?