When I talk to friends, family or colleagues, it soon becomes obvious that politics and politicians make us all miserable. I’ve often found myself wondering why people tune in to music radio stations, rather than speech and news outlets. Those ‘new’ digital radio stations fill our ears with mindless, repetitive pop tunes. Oldies stations play the same 500 songs on repeat. Who knew, in the ’60s, we’d still be going to San Francisco with the Flowerpot Men in 2025? Who knew when we first heard those fabulous ABBA or Blondie records in the ’70s, they’d still be heard on repeat 50 years later. Honestly, how many times can you enjoy ‘Come on Eileen?’

I confess that if I discovered you listened to pop music all day, I would see you as a bit of an ostrich or imbecile. How could you possibly bury your head in the sand when there’s so much going on in the world? The news is relentless. Surely you want to know what’s happening? And then of course, the penny dropped. I realised my diet of endless news was depressing me. Let’s face it – it’s usually so awful, any intelligent person would block most of it out.

I think by now we all realise the right has become more popular, just as the left becomes more vocal. No-one debates anything, and neither side respects the other. In the ’70s and ’80s, people generally respected other people’s viewpoints. Clearly, we’ve now lost that. Is it all the fault of social media and Twitter?

It’s party season – but not the fun kind. We’ve had Reform, Labour, the Lib Dems and even the Greens. Their leader once promised women a bigger bust – I can’t help but think that’s a vote-winner. It was the Tories’ turn this week, although it appeared very few members bothered to attend. Tellingly, the number of Conservative MPs at the conference required just two coaches. According to the polls, if we had an election next week, the party’s MPs could easily fit on one coach. How the mighty fall – no wonder so many pundits are writing their obituary.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I’m not sure the Tories were as apologetic in Manchester as they needed to be. The media seemed largely disinterested; much of what was said didn’t make the news. If you bothered to hear what was said, they did announce some good policies and sounded ‘Reform Light.’ Inevitably, the elephant in the room remains: why were they not doing all these marvellous vote-winning things a year or two ago?

Public spending ran away on their watch. It was they who enlarged the civil service, which they now claim they want to cut. Immigration boomed under the Conservatives. That said, I almost felt I could vote for them. Kemi said the welfare system is usually described as a ‘safety net.’ We should instead think of it as a ‘trampoline, cushioning your fall and propelling you back onto your feet.’ She’s right, of course. We just can’t afford to pay those with mild mental health challenges or ADHD to stay home and do nothing indefinitely.

Even Labour agrees we must find a way to help those affected carry on working or find a job that they can cope with. Some days I wake up aching; I really don’t want to get up. I don’t want to shower, shave and fight my way to work. Still, I’ve never given in to the impulse to have a ‘duvet day.’

I’ve always had bills to pay, a family to support.

I do see the attraction of ‘working from home’ as so many civil servants do now, and if I’d been able to get away with a three-day week, I’d have done so in a heartbeat. Who wouldn’t?