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Air stewards and stewardesses probably get to see less of the world than Today's globe-trotting James Naughtie. 

Recently back from Egypt - from where he filed a few award-seeking reports for a few days before returning to Blighty again - Today has now seen fit to dispatch its favourite frequent flyer to the United States, from where he can pontificate (for a few days) about Washington's response to the Syrian crisis, and then win an award for it (fingers crossed).

This sort of thing usually provokes a few complaints from never-satisfied listeners about BBC's profligacy, not that that ever seems to stop the BBC from doing it again.

It seems a bit profligate to me too, especially given that there's already a surprisingly large flock of BBC reporters busily squawking away in the U.S. capital, including North America editor Mark Mardell. 

Why O why O why O why (...ad infinitum...) do they do it?

Still, in Lucky Jim's case it might just be that this could be the last chance the poor man will get to enjoy a foreign jaunt at the licence fee payer's expense, as he's off tae Scotland soon to report on the independence debate up there, and he will nae be flying further than the Shetlands Islands for the foreseeable future.

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Oh, and what insights did James Naughtie, hot off the plane yet already sounding as authoritative as if he'd been in Washington all his working life, give to his expectant listeners this morning?

Such things as:

"Republicans who control the House of Representatives, naturally, aren't looking at this solely through the prism of the Middle East. For many of them, particularly those who are associated with the libertarian Tea Party movement, or threatened by it in the districts, it's unthinkable to help Obama in his hour of need." 

What a cynical, partisan bunch those Tea Party-aligned Republicans are! People who clearly would never do the right thing if it helped their political opponent. (So unlike the Democrats, of course).

Or at least so I'm led to believe by this particular impartial BBC reporter/mind-reader.

The window James Naughtie has into men's souls, without even knowing them or having talked to them, is surely the reason why the BBC sends him hither and thither, with our financial support, to report on all the major news stories of the day.

Now back to you, Sarah.