System-wide db-driven config

Hi folks,

Just after a ‘best-practise’ pointer with this one really;

I have a ‘setup’ model for my application which only has a single
record, holding the current settings of the app e.g. its mode
(maintenance, normal, readonly) etc

I need to check the app’s settings, at least once per page-load,
sometimes more.

I know I could do this easily by pulling the record each time but was
wondering if using global variables or something like a helper would
be better? I do need to make these calls in both the controllers and
views however.

Thanks in advance,

Paul