I do not make New Year Resolutions since I go into a deep depression when they are broken. Nevertheless as this is 21 December 2006 I have promised myself that I will blog daily from now on. It seems to me that blogging is an acceptable form of talking to oneself.

Today was bitterly cold and maybe the beginning of a hard winter promised earlier this year. As I did not have a proper winter hat (the umpteenth having been left somewhere) I ventured out in one of those terrible tea pot warmers the younger generation wear. When I passed the local beat bobbies they remarked that the hat would keep me warm but hoped I was not going out to do a bit of mugging. I said not today as I was concentrating on doing a bit of nicking. None of this was true of course but in considering such a dialogue I feel I am in touch with contemporary life.

The terrible performance last week of the Blair Government is the final straw. The practice of spinning and burying bad news is obvious and apparent to everyone. It has contributed so significantly to the general distrust that everyone has for politicians yet they appear to be the only ones who do not hoist in the fact. The reappearance of Mandelson to hasten the death of Blair's premiership seems most appropriate.

I fear my earlier suggestion (that we should consider the 12-1 odds that Blair would be gone by the end of the year) will be a lost bet. The sooner he goes the better but given his messianic beliefs he will of course hang on causing further and greater damage to the interests of the Labour Party and the Country.