Since the weather today was nowhere near I or anybody else had predicted I've been determined to make the most of it. An early shopping expedition with me focused on the concept of a free range chicken ended with the mouth-watering prospect of comparably reared duck on the menu for my Sunday dinner. Whilst the non-tortured chickens were weighing in at over £10 I managed to snag the duck for a bargain £5.47.
Whilst the sun was shining there was time to pack a small rucksack with soup and sandwiches and try and walk off some of the stress of the week. There were plenty of fieldfares and redwings feasting on berries and a pair of kestrels terrorising meadow pipits. All in all I probably covered about five miles and it was only on the very last leg that rain was encountered.
A call from Nick sets up the agenda for the beginning part of next week as I update him on what lies the newspapers are telling about us this morning. Mr Bercow's antics have not gone down very well and the chances of him having a Speaker's traditional free run in his Buckingham constituency at the next general election should now be considered minimal, very minimal in fact.
You might be interested in a piece concerning The Speaker's shocking outburst yesterday which was accurately reproduced in today's Independent newspaper. However, the reporter never mentioned my quote about the need to test Mr Bercow's urine:
Bercow breaks convention to attack BNP
By Michael Savage, Political correspondent
He swept to office on the back of a promise to break with tradition. But John Bercow, the Speaker of the Commons, has been accused of taking his shake-up of the role too far after he unleashed an attack on the British National Party.
Centuries of political impartiality demanded of the Speaker were rolled back in spectacular fashion by Mr Bercow yesterday, as he described the far-right party as "evil", adding that it was a "poison which we could well do without". It is thought to be the first time that a Speaker has ever launched such an assault on a legal party...
Simon Darby, the deputy leader of the BNP, said the outburst was "quite shocking" and broke the rules of the office of Speaker. "He is meant to be independent and this kind of outburst is quite extraordinary," he said. "We are hopeful of performing well at a general election and if he is still the Speaker, I do not see how he could possibly continue in the role. He has jeopardised his position."
I wonder how all of those political opponents of ours who criticised me for referring to "Baroness Warsi" as a Pakistani will react upon acquainting themselves with today's Daily Telegraph. It was never meant as an insult and indeed why should it be?
Baroness Warsi may have had the biggest poppy on the BBC's notorious Question Time which showcased the vile BNP leader Nick Griffin, but she admits that she would herself fail Lord Tebbit's "cricket test".
"I would fail it completely," says Lady Warsi, the daughter of an immigrant bed-maker who, providing David Cameron wins the election, is likely to be Britain's first Muslim Cabinet minister by next June.
"You never have a dull moment when the Pakistanis are playing. There's just an excitement there which I think some other nations don't produce on the pitch."
Lord Tebbit said a key test of "Britishness" for people from ethnic minorities was who they would support in a cricket match: the national team or their country of origin.
When I saw her in the Question Time studio corridor I honestly thought she was part of the production staff rather than a "Baroness". I'd very much like to go to Kashmir as it is supposed to be incredibly beautiful. One wonders if the locals would encourage us to colonise the place and appoint me the Maharajah of Jammu. I doubt it considerably, but you would have thought an avid multiculturalist like "our" Sayeeda would be falling over herself to assist in my coronation and the subsequent enrichment and diversification of her shockingly monoracial homeland.
