I was shocked to hear of the death of the comedian Max Turner last night. I only met him a couple of times, so this will be far from the best tribute, but was still very saddened by the news. Of course it’s sad when anyone dies, but when someone’s so young it becomes even more tragic. I was very moved to read the condolence messages left on his Facebook wall, which is a bittersweet modern phenomenon if ever there was one. I always thought of him as a very intelligent, natural comic, and above all else very funny. I truly wish there were more like him, and sadly now there’s one fewer.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow, but it seemed wrong to me to let it pass unmentioned.