I listened to Any Questions on BBC Radio 4 last evening. One of the panelists was David Miliband. The programme came from Hampshire so I expected a question on the recent damning report by the all party EFRA Parliamentary Committee on DEFRA's performance regarding Single Farm Payments; a report which, incidentally, DEFRA must respond to within eight weeks.
There were questions on Iran and the British sailors; casino's - if we wanted them and where; global warming and the UK's response; and of course, the Labour Party leadership when Tony Blair goes. But nothing at all about one of the most critical Select Committee reports in history. Was this because no-one in the audience understood its significance or a reflection of the programme producers regard for agriculture?
The greatest personal interest centered around whether or not Miliband would stand for the Labour leadership in competition with Gordon Brown. Yet again, despite pressure from the chairman, Jonathan Dimbleby and other panel members he refused to answer yes or no.
And so the questions - will, he? won't he? - continue. In response to the final question on the programme on who panelists would like to take with them on a trip round the world, however, Miliband replied that he would choose Einstein.
Speaking personally I would not have made that choice. The Theory of Relativity would, I fear, have limited appeal for me after a few miles. But perhaps it would have helped our David to consider the relative risks of being beaten by Brown and then being cast out by him into the political wilderness compared with winning the Party vote and then having to try to rebuild the governments battered reputation.
I see that today, his predecessor, Margaret Beckett, has advised him not to stand, saying he would be daft to do so. If I were Miliband, receiving advice from someone who had made such a mess of running my Department that many believe she should have resigned, it might just have persuaded me to do the opposite.
Either way, it seems unlikely that he will be in his present job for long. And then, only a year after the last time, the NFU and everyone else will have to train another Secretary of State for DEFRA.