Radek Sikorski’s notebook: Goose-steppers in Oxford, and a drone in my garden

As the BA flight from Warsaw landed at Heathrow, I felt a little tremor of anxiety, though it wasn’t anything to do with fear of flying. I was here for the Pembroke College gaudy. I had never attended a reunion before, and I had doubts about it. What if the people I really liked didn’t show up? What if I didn’t remember somebody’s name, while they remembered me? Above all, did I really want to see a bunch of old people claiming to be my contemporaries?

It turned out to be a delight. It was lovely to be woken again by the sound of the bell from Tom Tower, which used to be the view from my window; to take a morning walk around misty Christ Church meadow; to drink tea with the Master in the ancient Oak Room beneath the portrait of Dr Johnson, our second-most famous alumnus after J.R.R.