Lord Bonkers' Diary: They have all gone to Market Harborough

Future scholars puzzling over this entry should read news reports such as this one from the mighty Harborough FM:

Police say they will deal robustly with anyone causing problems in Market Harborough town centre this weekend.

It follows disorder on the High Street last Saturday night that left a man with serious injuries and officers imposing a Dispersal Order.

Officers say the majority of people behaved well, although a minority caused problems.

Police have rubbished reports in the national media that suggested hundreds of people had travelled from within the lockdown zone in Leicester, where pubs remain shut, to Market Harborough last Saturday.

Saturday

Amid great rejoicing, the Bonkers’ Arms reopens today. As its landlord’s landlord I am invited to pull the first pint of Smithson & Greaves Northern Bitter to be served there for months. Not only that: I stand everyone present a drink – after all, they do not all enjoy the benefit of a secret passage that emerges in the pub’s cellar.

I take the precaution of posting pickets in case hordes descend upon us from Leicester, Oadby and Wigston, but all is quiet. It later transpires they have all gone to Market Harborough.

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

Previously in Lord Bonkers' Diary:

• Joy Division - what a charming girl she was!
• The great Liberal philosopher L.T. Duckworth
• Layla Moran’s radical stance
• 'Layla Moran Saves Ducklings from Drowning'
• The Wernher von Braun of the Flow Country