If you doubt me, try to conjure up in your head all those cover stories of bygone heroes.

FORBES: Warren Buffett Is Human, After All

If you doubt me, come to midtown Manhattan during an August heat wave and feel the blast of hot air from vents on buildings and the street.

CNN: Why we should expect more weather disasters

Do you doubt me?

FORBES: In Praise of Whistleblowers - Yes, Even Julian Assange

Anyway, if you're still with me (which I rather doubt you are), then you may have worked out where this argument is heading.

BBC: The eurozone's borrowing costs may stay lethally high

That's why parents talking about their children can be so tedious - other parents, I mean, not me or you - not because we doubt their love, or the child's charms, but because itemizing infinities is obviously the most boring thing imaginable.

BBC: A Point of View: The pain when children fly the nest

He said: "I don't want you or me or anyone else to be in any doubt about the scale of the task ahead to deal with a debt crisis that threatens to blight a generation".

BBC: Osborne warns of 'tough' choices