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On Friday evening the volcano in Iceland stopped me playing tennis in Bodmin. My plans had to change because the ash cloud over Europe meant by family was stuck in Spain and I had to retrieve the car from Bristol airport.

A trivial matter compared with several heads of State left unable to attend the funeral of the Polish president, or the cancellation of umpteen European Union meetings next week. But I know of at least one Parliamentary candidate seeking election in Cornwall who took an Easter holiday abroad and whose campaign is now facing disruption as he struggles to get home.

So I'm particularly grateful to my old friend Greg Neale for pointing out that we have been here before. On 8th June 1783 a volcano erupted in Iceland and sent a huge cloud of ash over northern Europe. The volcano carried on erupting for eight months and caused widespread crop failures, famine and death. It is generally accepted that these conditions helped bring about the French Revolution and changed the political face of Europe forever.