Thursday 27th September

Where has that Olympic feel-good factor gone?  Has all that excitement we felt, that pride in ourselves; that sense of achievement as a country completely dissipated.  And where, oh where has the sun gone.

We have had a pretty rotten summer weather-wise.  Far too much rain, far too little sunshine, far too much doom and gloom.  And strangely the little decent weather we did have seemed to coincide with the Olympic and Paralympic festival.  Just as our spirits were being lifted by sporting success and achievement, so too the sun made a brief appearance, lifting the skirts of drizzle just enough for us to bask in its warmth.  The news too was dominated by the remarkable successes and bravery of the Olympians.  All that talk of negative growth and euro-zone crisis didn’t get a look in.  And even politics itself took a backseat, a few smiling pictures of our leaders enjoying the games, and the seeming inexorable rise of Boris only made us smile.

Now, with the conference season upon us, it is back to grim reality, and talk of even more cuts, and more years of, or dare we even whisper it, perpetual austerity.  Nowhere does there seem any glimmer of hope or sunshine.  And undoubtedly the cold and wet, the dragging out of the outer coats, the unfurling of umbrellas, the cold wet pavements and the dark mornings only add to the gloom.