One of the "party-tricks" of a central character in Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" is to foretell the Apocalypse. The character, Lebedyev, is also something of a entrepreneur and fixer in the contemporary mold.
Given this Apocalyptic reference in my current fictional reading, I was fascinated to learn in a BBC Radio 4 programme on Chernobyl broadcast yesterday that the town's name translates into English as "wormwood" which also has strong associations with the end of the world.
This was excellent "low budget, high value" broadcasting incidentally, in stark contrast to the political white noise which seems to have beset much of the BBC in recent days. Is the media silly season getting earlier with global warming, I wonder ?
For who, other than Nick Clegg, really cares whether David Cameron has given an unpaid internship in his constituency office to the offspring of an Oxfordshire neighbour. I'm far more interested in whether the Government is dispensing rather more lucrative favours to its friends.
This was certainly the case with New Labour, and we should remind ourselves that prime minister Gordon Brown's brother was head of communications at the French-owned company EDF when it secured a deal which may yet determine the future of Britain's civil nuclear policy.
The response of the Liberal-Democrat component of the Coalition Government to this situation has been extremely disappointing, given that Chris Huhne and Vince Cable hold the key energy, and climate change, and business and innovation portfolios.
Indeed, it would seem that on energy policy, and not just on the "Alternative Vote" that the Lib-Dems favour co-habitation with Labour, something on which independent-minded Tories of the "Conservative Home" persuasion might reflect.
They will also note that Gordon Brown's financial largess, as prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer, to the international business community, which our own country could ill-afford, has been recognised by the World Economic Forum to the tune of £750k per annum.
This "allowance" - like Blair, Brown seems to have pull on the grace and favour circuit - will no doubt support many internships and possibly the odd consultancy for Lord Mandelson's new firm "Global Counsel".
The present British prime minister and his deputy, meanwhile, need to wise up on energy policy and other pressing issues. Let's hope that the end of the present silly season is only just over a week away, and that a prolonged political impairment does not prelude something even worse.
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