LATEST: Ancient ancestors were worms. Shock.

I rather like it that we are descended from worms. Not least because it confers a touch of dignity on the wriggling creatures. So, next time you turn over a sod of earth spare a thought for that humble slithering entity, or cousin Fredrika as it might so easily be known.

It seems only a short time since we learned our ancestors were tiny mouse creatures huddling in burrows to avoid the snap of dinosaur teeth. Looking further back we are no better than the common worm, nay, were were the common worm.

There's a wonderful Gary Larson cartoon that I also like of a leery amoeba chasing a female amoeba and shouting, "Baby, I am the lowest form of life." Where next, one wonders. The primeval swamp? We must have been in there somewhere, mooching about, savouring the slurry, slurping the salts, sucking the Silurian soup, so to speak.

I find it comforting that with each marvellous discovery the bigots must choke even further on their morning toast. And that, my fellow worms, is exactly how it should be.