The Maily Telegraph headline today says the blame lies squarely with those overpaid, lazy civil servants at the Met Office (well of course it does).

Personally, unlike their leader writer, not being an expert on volcanoes, ash or jet engines I don't feel qualified to comment on whether it's safe to fly at the moment so happy to trust the experts in their caution - and I'm rather selfishly enjoying the lack of aircraft noise.

I did spot a more amusing headline about the ash problems on the NewsBiscuit website though: "Cancelling anything nice over the holidays?" asks volcano aware hairdresser.