Update 25

As of Tuesday my steroid dose is down to 4mg a day with the prospect of another drop to 3.5 next week. My diary tells me that the loss of taste happened when the dose was dropped to 1mg - it’ll be hard to persuade me back down there again for the moment.  Although not perfect, I can eat most things and can definitely taste my wine.

Thursday’s appointment with the Speech and Throat specialist went well with muscles tested and my swallowing actions declared normal. The concern seems to be that what should be my instinctive swallow response is encountering delays that interfere with the overall action of my throat. There are actions that can be undertaken if/as it deteriorates. Watch this swallow space.

As the BBC celebrates its 100th birthday I offer a selection of books  from my library - here are the first seven (Art Deco) issues of the BBC yearbook/handbook published annually from 1928- 1987 . I have collected the full set. In the 1930s, Radio really was seen as     the cutting edge of hi-tech.

Let’s try and understand Kier Starmer’s thinking. Currently 70% of the UK population think the government is handling Brexit badly, 19% think they’re doing well. The latest YouGov poll tells us that 54%  of voters would support a new EU deal under which trade barriers were removed. Starmer’s position appears to be that we need to stick with the Johnson/Frost deal because its removal would lead to years of further wrangling. I don’t see where the logic sits, or his future path lies, but I do understand that he cannot afford to upset any potential supporters, and Labour’s current position did prompt an encouraging result in Thursday’s Chester by-election.

It’s been suggested that the red wall is so full of angry people pouring their bile on “immigrants” that he dare not even hint that “immigrants” might still have role in our lives, or that we might see “Europeans” as our friends. This in spite of the fact that for decades “immigrants” have been living alongside us looking after our health as our doctors and nurses, serving us in pubs, delivering our Amazon parcels and servicing our white goods. Partly the challenge is that right-wing media outlets see their role as fomenting antagonism between communities - the Express, the Mail and the Telegraph want us to see boat people as evil, Europe as our enemy and truth as whatever the likes of Paul Dacre want it to be - all is not well. I read that even tho’ Brexit is not officially to be blamed, some 4,000 ex EU doctors have left the nhs since it happened.

The Census results showing less than 50% white populations in centres such as Leicester and Birmingham will no doubt encourage Nigel Farage to step up his dog whistling to please his fan club within Britain’s millions of racists - Reform voters and their ilk. Will he return as a party leader? I’d bet on it, his next move has to be to attract the ERG group away from the Tories, and by so doing, break them and ensure the end of electoral success for Conservative Party politics.

I just watched this week’s PMQs - there is no doubt about it - Rishi Sunak is a totally empty shell, there is nothing in there. He spouts whatever his staff have written for him, but he himself quite literally has nothing to say and no core values upon which he might base a personal position on any of the issues of the day - his political career will not endure because quite simply he’s not engaged.

In the meantime it looks as though we will have to carry on making the best of what’s been a seriously bad job until Labour is back in power and can perhaps be more confident about doing the right thing than it is at the moment. If you study the stats especially about investment in education and health, the decade 1997-2007 under Labour really was ambitious and really did move things on a pace. Here’s to the next time.

Here in Cheltenham, Lib Dem support is riding high. Door to door canvassing is confirming our support with Labour showing as a distant third. Unless something very strange happens, then at the next election, our candidate Max Wilkinson will be reclaiming this previously long term Lib Dem seat - well done my friend, I’m very proud to call you that. 

This week I’ve sanded and put two more coats of Danish oil on our dining table and the surface is once again mirror like - DIY still alive and working.

This year’s advent calendar is a gift from friends and supplied with 24 of those most excellent preserves from the ‘Bonne Maman’ collection.