muninnhuginn | Just before 11.00 am

"The Old Wives' Tale" ended. The brief silence between programme and link, like an intake of breath, followed. The silence lengthened. Eventually, no doubt on the dot, came the time signal for eleven o'clock. The silence continued. Eventually an announcer chimed in with an apology and "some music".

Radio 4 was broken--in a rather more literal sense than Hutton's report might have alleged.

Indulging in paranoid speculations, we wondered if this was it. Blair had pulled the plug and 4 was no more. For a moment it didn't seem such an implausible outcome after the events of last week. A selective pruning might suit Antonionionio. He could leave Radio 3. Even the most authoritarian regimes enjoy a bit of solemn orchestral stuff: it's good for filling the airwaves on the death of revered leaders and such. He could leave Radio 1 so long as it stuck to being chirpy chaff for the masses. Even Radio 7 would be fine, a nostalgia-fest for those deprived of current broadcasting fodder.But the World Service and Radio 4 would go.

Of course, by the time we'd got downstairs and switched on, Radio 4 was back. Here's hoping it stays that way.