Peter Rhodes on problem gambling, the last taboo and why everyone's talking about Tettenhall

The country’s biggest betting firms are removing all TV and radio advertising during the lockdown, following widespread concern over problem gamblers. About time, too.

Some of us were flagging up this social evil on day one of the restrictions. Sadly, even after the gambling firms do the right thing, some compulsive gamblers will always find something to have a flutter on whether it's Nepalese table tennis or Rwandan shove ha'penny. All it takes is some random numbers generated by chance. I wouldn't be surprised if someone, somewhere is taking bets on Britain's daily toll of hospital deaths.

Ricky Gervais is a good actor and After Life (Netflix) which he writes, directs and stars in, is his perfect platform. It is clever, funny, poignant and well cast. But it is also part of the deplorable campaign to break our last language taboo and make the C-word acceptable on telly. It is not. It's not big, or clever or groundbreaking. It's not even credible, especially when the word is put in the script for a much-loved actor like Annette Crosbie to deliver. This is a word that, even in our coarse society, still causes grave offence, particularly among women. Stars who would never dream of uttering the N-word think it's smart to slip the C-word into a drama. Think again.

Still on Netflix, the new series of The Last Kingdom features more mentions of a quiet suburb of Wolverhampton than I can recall in any other drama. Tettenhall was the setting for a mighty battle in the year 910 in which the Anglo-Saxons defeated a Viking army. In the build-up, people are seen discussing the chosen battlefield at Tettenhall and asking what is the best route to Tettenhall. I'm sure it wasn't quite like that. I doubt if anybody in the Wessex capital of Winchester had even heard of Tettenhall. The two armies met and had their battle on a suitable bit of land. Later, historians named it after the nearest village. None of which detracts from The Last Kingdom which is magnificent (especially if you enjoy seeing heads smashed apart with war hammers).

Airline companies queuing up for government support are like prize bullocks hoping for one last meal before they are sent to the abattoir. There is so much talk of “when this pandemic is over” that you could assume everything will get back to normal. But it won't. The age of dirt-cheap foreign holidays, built on the twin towers of tax-free aviation fuel and people willingly sitting in metal tubes cheek to cheek with hundreds of other people, are over. We have more airlines, airliners and airports than we are going to need for a long time to come.

Weather update. The “drought of March” was postponed from March and happened in April instead. April showers were on hold and will now be arriving in early May. Don't even ask about flaming June.