A lunch party, kindly organised and prepared by Sally, was a high point of the week. Our guests reached back across my early adult life.
One was David Jordan, whom I first met at Bristol University in the early 1970s and have remained close friends with ever since.
He has had a fascinating career, one of Brian Walden’s powerhouse researchers on the never-equalled Weekend World at LWT, alongside the likes of David Aaronovitch and Peter Mandelson.
He also worked on On The Record with Jonathan Dimbleby and fellow researcher John Riley, who went on to be a brilliant Programme Editor of ITN’s News at Ten, and later, like the great Nick Pollard, became Editor of Sky News. John, now retired, also joined us for lunch.
In retirement, John is involved with a committee supporting student journalism at Oxford. I told him our son Alex had edited Cherwell while at Oxford and pledged to put them in touch.
We also once helped David and his late wife support one of their daughters by recommending our local agricultural college. She thrived and now does vital work in animal welfare.
Our fourth guest was Charles Lewington, whom I first met when he was Political Editor of the Daily Express. He later became Press Secretary to Prime Minister Sir John Major.
GB NEWS | Alastair Stewart attends a stimulating and exhausting afternoon lunch
When he stepped back from frontline politics, he founded Hanover Communications, a hugely successful and respected PR agency. We've been close friends for years, collaborating on political and charitable projects.
It was a wonderful gathering, full of talk about politics, TV journalism, football, cricket, and rugby.
We all agreed Sir Keir Starmer continues to have a torrid time. There was collective surprise that he doesn’t have a dedicated economic advisor, and a shared view that his political team needs bolstering.
The recent Tory reshuffle was seen as “much ado about not a lot”.
I was dismissive of Corbyn’s new party, and we spent time reflecting on how millennials still seem oddly drawn to him and his politics. Charles pointed out that a similar phenomenon is happening in New York around a left-wing mayoral candidate.
Discussion turned to Rachel Reeves and the state of the economy, which left us all rather forlorn. On economic growth, David observed that success, as in the US, often comes from creative hubs.
He’d made a programme on this years ago, asking how the UK could emulate Silicon Valley.
It hinges, he said, on brilliant scientists, entrepreneurs, and even defence spending, as seen in California. Our best hopes?
The Thames Valley and M4 corridor. Perhaps Oxford and Cambridge might pull it off.
It was a stimulating and exhausting afternoon. When I forgot or muddled facts, Sally gently corrected me. I blamed my dementia; after all, it had prompted the gathering. But it didn’t dominate the free-flowing, spirited debate.
John had driven down from Oxfordshire. Charles and David came via the recently re-nationalised South West Trains, which they said had performed well.
That line shares Alton Station with the privately run steam railway, the Watercress Line, which continues to thrive.
We also touched on Nigel Farage’s Reform Party and how it may do to the Conservatives what Corbyn’s movement could do to Labour, just as the SDP did all those years ago. An interesting time in politics, then, for us old warhorses.
An early night was needed, so we could prepare for the joyous prospect of a day at Hickstead, the home of British show-jumping.
The All England Jumping Course was the dream and brainchild of one man, Douglas Bunn.
Now run by his family, it remains one of the premier equestrian venues in the world. Since opening in 1960, almost every great show jumper, horse, and rider has competed there.
In 2022, Hickstead celebrated the 60th running of the famous Al Shira’aa Derby.
The course still features the daunting Derby Bank, up a slope, down again, and over a jump before rejoining the course. It’s thrilling to watch, and the riders who conquer it love it. Dougie built the Bank after seeing and mastering a similar one in Germany.
It’s slightly higher than the German model, he’d measured it in the snow.
We are lucky to count one of the Bunns, Daisy, and her clever musician husband, Prav, among our friends.
They host legendary lunch parties in the Director’s Box, offering great food and brilliantly eclectic company, from Christopher Biggins to Sir Nicholas Soames, alongside top riders and owners who stop by for tea or a celebratory glass of champagne.
We all have the best view, especially as the winners and placed horses gallop in honour around the arena. It is one of my favourite days of the year.