It is said that the meaning of great novels ages as the reader does. While it would be a little odd to compare a BBC news story to War and Peace, it is nevertheless worth reading this story from June 2009: Newport West MP Paul Flynn concluded that the World Health Organisation had made a “terrible mistake” in spreading news about swine flu – or H1N1 – saying that it had caused panic. In a report to the Council of Europe, he also said that billions of pounds had been wasted on vaccines and antivirals that were never used. The UK ordered 90 million doses of the vaccine for H1N1, with 4.63 million ultimately being used.

The close of June 2009 saw the initial public offering of Tesla – incredibly, the first US car manufacturer IPO since Ford in 1956. By the end of the day, the market capitalisation stood at $1.6bn, and the day after that, $2.2bn. Today, Tesla is worth north of $100bn, although that rise has been far from smooth, what with boss Elon Musk routinely engaging in somewhat controversial behaviour, from imbibing whisky and… things that are legal in California but not the UK on the popular Joe Rogan podcast, to announcing to Twitter that the company was overvalued – chopping $14bn off its market value in one day.

Worried about soaring food prices in the months to come? Maybe the answer lies in a TV programme Channel 4 pumped into our homes a decade ago. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage, The Telegraph reported, featured recipes starring woodlice, snails and slugs. Apparently, another episode had him tucking in to a human placenta too, but that doesn’t seem to fit into the slimy creepy-crawly theme, so leave that off your foraging shopping list. Alas, even Hugh himself wasn’t a fan of battered slug.

Thank goodness some fads go away. Remember the laser pens that errant youths used to poke everything and everybody with, from cinema screens (remember those, as well?) to helicopter pilots? It turns out, according to the Independent 10 years ago, that they were burning people’s retinas. Let’s hope that, like Furbies, they don’t make a comeback any time soon.