Jonathan Dimbleby’s notebook: In defence of Chris Patten

I usually spend most of the week at home in South Devon in front of my computer. But for the past five days I have been on the rampage. Or to be precise, I’ve been in London. It is an easy journey by train when the track at Dawlish doesn’t fall into the sea. Some of my fellow travellers wonder why High Speed 2 warrants £50 billion when the whole of the West Country can be cut off so easily. They are unimpressed by the line that this investment won’t stop Network Rail giving Devonians and the newly free Cornish the best rail service in the world. But then they weren’t born yesterday.

I was at the Chelsea Flower Show, where I can report that Middle England is alive and well and living in dreams. There was a smattering of Ascot hats and one or two straw boaters but for the most part the Show was thronged by the human race taking the day off.