This has been an August full of grim, unrelenting world news demanding serious attention: the UK military is once again being drawn in to conflict in Iraq, tensions between Palestine and Israel remain extraordinarily high after recent incursions, and the Ebola outbreak in west Africa shows little sign of coming under control.
So it was that on Monday morning, the prime minister, David Cameron, announced that the government was launching a pilot programme to introduce age ratings on a selection of online music videos.
The scheme is relatively modest: the BBFC, which rates films, will rate new videos at the industry's expense, and when new footage is uploaded to YouTube by record labels, there will be an option for them to include the new age rating.
When you go to play a video included in the pilot, you'll see a warning that the content is rated for those aged 12, 15, or 18 and over – much like those already found on BBC's iPlayer, 4oD and similar services. These will also tie in to existing parental controls on YouTube.
If the proposal seems modest, it is: numerous online services already have minimum age requirements. Most social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, require users to be 13 or over. Most also include millions of users under that age, thanks to the minimal verification required.
As such, the prime minister's proposals will change little, and governing children's online activity will still depend almost entirely on parental diligence. Broader steps to make the system not reliant on parental discretion – introducing real online ID checking – would be wide-ranging, have substantial consequences, and face vehement opposition from civil liberties campaigners.
Even if the trial is successful, nothing so grand is on the cards. If it works, the scheme may be extended to more record labels, and to archived content. It may, in time, at its most ambitious, be extended to add "age gates" to pieces – a quick, automated check asking you to enter a date of birth, or to log in. Surely no teenager would dream of using a false birthdate to fox such a system?
The industry proposals are perfectly sensible and increase parental control and choice. Yet they amount to little more than one more click before watching a video: a popup window launched by the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
You can tell it's an election year.
