Journalists love stories about civil servants living the life of Riley. So we were looking forward to reading what the National Audit Office had to say about Ministry of Justice officials spending £36.9m last year through their procurement cards, aka Sir Humphrey’s flexible friend. The sum was second only to the Ministry of Defence’s spending and four times more than number three on the list, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Alas for Obiter’s newshounds, the auditors found the MoJ had good controls in place and ‘only small discrepancies’ in its transactions. Meanwhile, the card cut the cost of procurement paperwork by 35% and sped up payments to suppliers. But we expect you knew this already, seeing as how the daily papers gave the findings such massive coverage.