We live in the age of 24-hour rolling news. Anyone who wants to keep up with events can watch TV news round-the-clock, scroll through news websites on their phone and tune their radio to a news station 24-hours a day. They could even buy a daily newspaper or subscribe to a digital news title online.

As media coverage of the Plymouth city centre tree felling row enters its third day, I’m astonished that the City Council continues to “steadfastly refuse to give interviews.” (Amal Rajan’s words on Radio 4 this morning).