Lord Bonkers' Diary: "Death to the Duke of Rutland’s Militia"

The new issue of Liberator (no. 430) has dropped and you can download it free of charge from the magazine's website. Look out for the inside story on the sacking of Christine Jardine and two thoughtful articles on how to combat Reform UK in local elections.

This means, of course, that it's time to begin another week with Rutland's most popular fictional peer. We find him looking back to the Summer of Love.

Monday

These long hot summer days remind me of the Rutstock Festival, regarded by many historians (though not Dominic Sandboy in his What My Housemaster Told Me About the Sixties) as the high-water mark of that era of peace and love. Certainly, I have never worn flowers in my hair since. 

Yet those halcyon days were not without controversy, and it fell to me, as chief cook and bottle washer of the festival, to deal with the various hoohas. The chant from the stage of “Death to the Duke of Rutland’s Militia”, for instance, kept the yellow press in a froth for a clear fortnight. 

For the record, and despite what was written at the time, I did not lead the chant (though I may have joined in).

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10.