Dearest Gentle Reader, today's dispatches bring a single syllable of foreign policy, a £1.3 billion campaign of lies, and a farming scheme that vanished faster than one's composure at an Oasis ticket sale. This Author also has thoughts on black velvet jackets, pearl earrings, and what it means to inherit a situation - whether one is a prime minister or merely the recipient of a slightly damp umbrella.

Dearest Gentle Reader, this Tuesday brings a Prime Minister seeking common ground across the Atlantic, a Chancellor whose numbers are doing something deeply unpleasant, and a reform that may - or may not - finally save you from paying a king's ransom for your spaniel's prescription. This Author has opinions on all of it, and she has not spared the ink.

Dearest Gentle Reader, this Friday brings confessions from the highest reaches of the Secret Intelligence Service, heartbreak from the corridors of the National Health Society, and a palace dispute so combustible it could warm an entire London season. This Author has rarely set down her pen with a heavier hand - nor, she confesses, a more astonished expression.