A one-day general strike, called by the country’s labour union, was very patchily observed – even in Tel Aviv, the country’s beach-side liberal heartland.

There’s always a chance that a beach or two will “patchily clear up” and allow the sun to peek through, but she said temperatures along the coast will remain in the 60s.

Its glimmers of comic rage and generous helpings of battlefield carnage, though patchily entertaining on their own, never coalesce into a coherent reason for being.

Equally unromantic of face is Paul Matthews, a biology professor played by a dowded-down Nicolas Cage in the patchily entertaining dark comedy “Dream Scenario.”

It once again shone a spotlight on patchily regulated non-bank financial intermediaries such as investment funds, insurers and pension schemes, now totalling over $200 trillion globally.