In an era in which terms like herd immunity, curve-flattening, Brazilian variants and mRNA candidates have entered common parlance, it's refreshing to be faced with a problem that is remarkably easy to understand.

The big boat is stuck in the canal.

A welcome change, don't you think?

On the one hand, the fact that the problem is so pure in nature has prompted a wave of unsolicited advice from armchair experts, ranging from "can't they just unload it?" (there is no fixed port infrastructure available to do so) to "they should get another boat in there and give it a bit of a shove" (thank you, very helpful).

On the other hand, the Three Stooges-like ease with which one errant captain appears to have nearly collapsed global capitalism has unleashed a wave of creative (I use the world liberally) output from the internet.

The sight of a lone excavator in particular, digging away at the part of the ground that has wedged the 400-metre behemoth, seems to have struck a chord with a pandemic-weary public.

Sadly, the fact that the problem is simple does not lessen the potential ramifications of a blocked Suez Canal.

Oil price spikes caused by the unavailability of 13 million barrels of oil. A rerouting of ships around the Cape of Good Hope. Twenty livestock ships caught in the jam, causing further untold suffering for the animals on board.

That's why the best news you might hear today is that the big boat is no longer quite as stuck in the canal as it used to be.

We'll keep you updated.

Did you know you can receive this daily digest by email? Sign up here.