They fill gaps in your diary, with stars for particularly noteworthy ones, even while the whole exercise is roughly the journalistic equivalent of ordering a Big Mac.

It may look big and juicy in the photograph, but no matter how much you ignore past experience, it’s liable to be bland and lacking in goodness when it reaches the tray.

In that context, the agency’s new report into the Scottish Government’s renewable energy efforts could have been a lot worse.

Perhaps