Best Of

Who thought that using stage pyrotechnics when Farage arrive on stage at the Reform conference would be a good idea, is this an American import?! While it might have gone down well with his membership fan base in the conference hall, it was distracting and looked utterly bizarre on the news and certainly didn't convey the statesman like gravitas you would have expected for the leader of the party currently leading in the polls.

As for Andrea Jenkins cringeworthy entrance on stage, I thought I had been transported back to Eurovision about forty years ago, again hardly conveying the gravitas of a party that is supposedly seriously waiting to form the next government. And thanks to the Angela Raynor resignation from all her front bench roles in the Government and the Labour party, Keir Starmer then took the opportunity to hold a reshuffle to shore up his own position which resulted in the Labour party leaving Farage and the Reform party conference as a footnote in the televised news cycle and knocked them completely off all the front pages.

I understand what you're saying, but maybe people are fed up with serious politics and are in the mood for this type of cheesy, naff stuff from the likes of Andrea Jenkyns and Dr David Bull.

Decanting my older child back to uni today. As she’s at St Andrew’s, and has a ton of stuff for the new year in a new house-share, it’s a long tough job. We are overnighting in Lancaster

What an attractive town! I’m v pleasantly surprised. Normally and sadly British towns surprise on the downside these days. But stone-built Lancaster is ruggedly handsome, with a bracing location, and feels actively prosperous (in the centre, at least)

Flag report from 6 hours of driving

A few around London. Basically none from Luton up to Brum. Then a couple. Then a LOT in the north - at one stage almost every bridge had one. More 🇬🇧 than 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

A historic town too with a castle and university and a centre in the War of the Roses