Most of the packing got completed satisfactorily and then I watched one of the repeated ‘Pilgrimage’ programmes normally broadcast on a Sunday morning. In sharp contrast to the evening before, when I went down to the bar/lounge area, I find it practically deserted so perhaps most people are having a meal and then going straight to bed. I anticipated meeting up again with the American actor with whom I had socialised so much throughout the late morning, but he was not in evidence – or anyone else for that matter. I have to complete my packing first thing in the morning and so I had to content myself with an early night hoping that the Bank Holiday trains run true to timetable for my return journey. It now looks as though the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has bowed to the public outcry by ordering changes in the ‘Early release of Prisoners’ scheme. Two of the men in prison for the killing of PC Andrew Harper are set to stay behind bars after the prime minister this morning revealed changes to the planned early-release scheme. Andy Burnham said people convicted of unlawful killing, including manslaughter, would now be excluded. Eligible prisoners are due to start being released from October in an effort to ease chronic overcrowding. However, the prospect of Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole being freed caused an outcry, and they are now no longer set to be released at the halfway point of the 13-year-sentences they received in 2020. The excuse for not having done this early was the possibility of appeal under the ‘Human Rights’ rubric and it is hard to see how a challenge that could have been made yesterday is so suddenly nullified today, I awoke yesterday after not a particularly good night’s sleep, perhaps a little concerned about the journey ahead of me back home but it promises to be a bright day. My niece is giving me a lift to the station which will be quite a boost as the journey from the hotel to the station is up quite a steep hill so this is welcome. The political news is dominated by personalities this morning. Priti Patel has lost her position in the Shadow Cabinet and her services dispensed with by Kemi Badenoch so there is no sisterly love shared between these two female, black right-leaning politicians. But the bigger news is that James Cleverly, a Londoner, is to resign from the Shadow cabinet in order to run in the next election for London mayor. He is the biggest hitting candidate on the Tory side since Boris Johnson and although the capital city inclines towards the left, I would rate his chances as fairly high because I am not sure who the Labour party would put up against him. Sadiq Khan took office as mayor on 9 May 2016, and was re-elected in 2021 and 2024 so has already run two terms of office The position had been held by Ken Livingstone from the creation of the role on 4 May 2000 until he was defeated after two terms in May 2008 by Boris Johnson, who also served two terms before Khan was elected. Cleverly immediately becomes the front-runner for the nomination. He is, as one admiring senior Tory in London puts it, ‘Well liked, experienced, good on the media and can connect with London Conservatives.’ He previously served as a member of the Greater London Assembly in 2008 and 2016, in which capacity he drove through a difficult reorganisation of the capital’s fire services. Among some Conservative colleagues, there was a feeling at times that Cleverly was not across the detail in various briefs he held. Yet he can plausibly claim to be more experienced and tested than any of the three mayors who have held the post since its creation in 2000 and so I would rate his chances as fairly good.
My niece phoned up a good half an hour before she was due to pick me up from the hotel so we popped into a nearby coffee bar for some quick refreshment before she dropped me at the station (which was very welcome) the train that transported me to Leeds was a LNER Kings Cross bound train and seemed much superior to the Cross Country trains offering. The very helpful travelling ticket inspector on board the train found the platform to which I was heading in Leeds which was useful as I only had about thirteen minutes to effect the transfer. In the event, I made this with a few minutes to spare on board the Plymouth bound train which became hideously crowded in the journey through the Midlands from Derby onwards. At one stage there were about eight or none people standing in the carriage in which fortunately I had a booked seat although I had to ask for it to be vacated when I boarded the train. The train was rerouted through Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield but arrived in Birmingham only about 5 minutes late and so I had plenty of time to get to the Bromsgrove train which, Hereford bound, turned out to be faster than the normal service. So the overall journey like the proverbial ‘curate’s egg’ was good in parts. I was delighted to see my son who gave me a lift home having only got back from his own travels earlier in the day. Then during the course of the afternoon, I was unpacking, restoring things to their rightful resting places and getting the washing underway. I have a few set things that I like to take away with me which make hotel life a little more liveable of which the most important is an extension cable for the laptop I take away with me and a spare cable and batteries as well some items when I breakfast in my room. Tonight, I shall probably indulge in Paddington 2, being transmitted, no doubt, as today is a Bank Holiday and the film ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ is always worth another look but as the transmission time is late, I will save that for ‘catch-up’ the next day. I am contemplating my larder to see what meal I can prepare from my tinned stock as I tried to run down supplies before I went away (five days ago) less they go off. Now that this mini-Yorkshire vacation is over, I feel I probably need to re-establish an exercise routine for myself (some daily walks, for example) but I have a Pilates session tomorrow which might be a good start. Some people swear by a walk after a light evening supper and my local park always has a fair sprinkling of dog walkers as well as other more purposeful walkers at about 7.00pm.