As always, emails from old friends are a real boost. They lift the spirits, reminding us that people care, and they often spark memories, too.
This week I heard from Lord Chadlington. Peter and I are old friends.
He’s a master of public relations and has worked with many people I’ve known in the Conservative Party.
He has long been close to David Cameron, someone I’ve always liked and admired since we first met at Carlton Television.
The best one, in my view, is still the interview with Camilla Tominey for GB News. It won the TRIC Award a couple of years ago for Best TV Interview.
I turned 83 last week and found myself reminiscing about some of the happiest times I’ve had. I thought of our very jolly, if dry (!), lunches, where we’d put the world to rights and name-drop like mad. They were such wonderfully enjoyable occasions.
I especially remember one lunch before the 1992 General Election, which many on the Left were convinced Neil Kinnock would win.
Alastair Stewart laments IT problems and mourns the tragic death of F1 legend Eddie Jordan in this week's Living With Dementia diary
| GB NEWSJon Snow still believed Labour had a chance, even after early results showed the swing was falling far short. He and I were co-presenting the results programme and ended up disagreeing rather publicly!
On Alastair Burnet’s advice, I’d gone through all the constituencies Labour would have to win from the Tories, it just wasn’t feasible.
I told Peter this, and he promptly placed a wager on the Conservatives at good odds. He ended up winning a nice windfall on the day.
On a different note, politically, Angela Rayner’s admission that she hadn’t paid the appropriate stamp duty on her recent flat purchase in Hove, despite taking legal and financial advice, brought back memories. Years ago, my then-accountant came up with a scheme he claimed would legally reduce my tax bill.
I had doubts, but he went ahead anyway. Later, even he admitted the scheme shouldn’t have been set up.
HMRC hit me with a bill for back taxes and National Insurance.
Neither he nor the firm he sold his business to (after retiring) took any responsibility, not even for the legal and accountancy costs I faced in sorting out the mess. A good reminder: when it comes to legal or financial advice, caveat emptor.
We also went to the wedding of a dear friend recently. Her late grandmother was one of the early female stars of showjumping, and later became a widely respected judge at horse shows.
She was always so supportive of our sons, offering tips even after she’d given them a telling-off!
Another guest was a printer, a friend of theirs, who used to be a wardrobe master in film and television. His anecdotes were hilarious.
He said TV news isn’t what it used to be—it’s all about the presenters now. "In my day," he said, "it was all about the news."
It really was a good day. Lots of fun. We also met a sheep farmer, another of their friends. Sally asked whether she kept sheep for wool or meat.
“Meat,” she replied. “There’s no money in wool these days, shearing costs more than the wool’s worth!”