I know that the notion of Nero fiddling while Rome burned is wrong on many levels, not least because the violin had not been invented at the time he ruled the Roman Empire.  However, this was the overwhelming image that came to mind as I read a back copy of Transform, the official magazine of IEMA.

I grew up in an old farmhouse on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.  Outside my bedroom window were a pair of telephone wires and, at some time in mid April, one or two swallows would land on the wires and begin their distinctive, quiet twittering song.