So the first commercial flight powered by “sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) …… made from a variety of sources, including crops, household waste and cooking oils” has taken to the air.

I trust the food served on board was all deep-fried and that refuelling involved a procession of Deliveroo riders bringing loads of piggy-burgers to the flightline.

From now on, we need to up our intake of fried food to help sustain this wonderful effort.

Can’t help noticing that little phrase “including crops”.

Destroying forest and arable land to grow oil-producing crops is not really a very good use of the planet’s limited and dwindling resources. Global population pressure requires an increasing supply of food crops and climate uncertainty indicates that the planetwide cultivable belt may be decreasing.

The headline, naturally, does not reveal the percentage makeup of the aviation fuel from various sources. I am not even sure that “SAF” means made exclusively from recycled products. Certainly, the crop-based component is not recycled, it is purpose grown at the expense of food crops. I suspect that this is a phenomenally expensive gimmick, a ruse to allow airlines to flag their sustainability credentials while only paying lip service to the underlying principles.

Still, it will be nice to watch the contrails crisscrossing the morning skies as planeloads of fatties are whisked to Ibiza, powered by McDs’ and KFC’s waste bins. I trust all holiday hotels will be contractually obliged to serve food free from contaminating greenery to maintain a suitable level of waste cooking oil. You could offset your carbon footprint against your restaurant bill.