Diary

There's a definite feeling of Back to School in the air after a holiday season which saw people more eager to get out of the country than Saddam Hussein's daughters were to leave Baghdad. Even the weather has returned to normal, with relentless rain for - oh, at least a quarter of an hour, making it possibly the wettest 15 minutes on record. All this after a summer which gave us some of the hottest statistics since Augusts began. One abiding memory was the public responding to calls to limit and control their excessive use of water by roundly telling the water authorities to do the same to their salaries.

August also proved to be a sad but true story of the charismatic young evangelist who used all manner of techniques to attract followers to his cult. But that's Tony Blair for you. Those who have fallen victim to this personality cult are reportedly traumatised, fearing that unless they receive treatment urgently they'll be driven stark staring Liberal Democrat. And then where would they be? Well, in power probably, but that's not really the point.