Town Mouse

A British bloodsport

AFTER several days spent largely at home looking after a self-isolating child, the whole family has been overjoyed to get out and get on with life again. Even during the short period of selfimposed withdrawal, London feels as if it has got busier once again. There is bustle on the streets, restaurants have customers and there are queues outside theatres in the evening.

No less important, the regimen of the school day has mercifully reimposed itself and the children are out of the house punctually each morning. It won’t last long, of course; half term is already just around the corner.

On their return from school over the past week, the children have been indulging in a new enthusiasm. They have always been curious about politics, but recent events have captured their imaginations to an unprecedented degree. As they come through the door, they ask about the news of the day and it has come as a great disappointment that Prime Minister’s Question Time is not a daily event. There has even been interest in the niceties of Parliamentary protocol (not that I can satisfy them on all points of detail). In short, they seem to have developed a keen taste for the bloodsport that is British Parliamentary democracy.