A READER SENDS THIS BBC LINK FROM BRITAIN, with the following observation:

“State of the Union” is the spot which has replaced Alistair Cooke’s “Letter From America”.

Radio 4 provides a listen again function (which you will get if you click on the link above) and ordinarily runs a transcript of the latest talk in the “America” news section of their website.

No transcript this week.

This is perhaps because the 10-minute feature looks at current war heroes, who have not made any brags about their injuries, have not asked to go home, and have more or less no chance for promotion — or, what is more to the point, self-promotion.

Give it a whirl. You’ll be glad you did.

I did listen, and it’s quite good.