It is as well that Mr Blair did not in the end go to Blackpool for his holiday

Nr Pézenas, Departement de L’Hérault

Random thoughts from mid-August abroad; not that they should be all that random. Now that BBC News 24, Sky and CNN can be viewed in the deepest Midi, where we are, and several British newspapers print ‘same day’ editions in Marseilles, which are on sale at 8.30 a.m. in our nearest village, most of us should be as in touch with events as we would be in London.

But somehow, in deepest August, in Mediterranean lands, we cannot be. The sun and the wine make us think we are out of touch, that they know more in London. ‘Just ringing to find out what’s happening about [say] Ken Clarke reneging on the euro after all his years as a Brussels agent,’ we tell some London answering machine. Then we discover that a similar message, from a Briton in the Midi, has been left on our own answering machine in London.