Look the point is ... er, what is the point? It is a tough job but somebody has got to do it.

He's lost the plot, people tell me. He's drifting rudderless in the wide Sargasso Sea of New Labour's ideological vacuum.

It was a stellar performance. I may as well give up now and make way for an older man.

If Amsterdam or Leningrad vie for the title of Venice of the North, then Venice - what compliment is high enough? Venice, with all her civilisation and ancient…