Alexa on horse racing: I'm sorry I haven't a clue

This technology forces your hand. One minute you’re vowing you’ll never sign up to Facebook, the next you find out Nicky Henderson and Frankel are on there and you’d better join – just out of sheer professionalism, you know.

Then you’ve got 371 friends, some completely unknown to you, and they start wishing you happy birthday all the time, many in an ungenuine way – never used to send a card, did they? – and it goes on and on forever, but you can’t switch it off because there are three pals you can’t keep in touch with otherwise. That’s how it works.

Or one minute you’re denouncing voice-controlled personal assistants and these people who just can’t wait to get home to turn the heating on, the next you’ve got an Echo Dot – just out of sheer professionalism, you know.