There's more than one Reform politician who believes in UFOs

This video has received a lot of attention today, but don't mock Councillor Kieran Lay too hard. Because he's not the only Reform politician to believe in aliens and their UFOs.

Regular readers will be familiar with Rupert Matthews, the police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire. He was elected as a Conservative but later joined Reform UK.

And Matthews once told an American interviewer:

"The evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling."

Less amusing are Matthews' current plans for Market Harborough town centre. Rather than spend the money on more properly trained police offices or PCSOs, he's giving £2m to private security firms to provide street wardens.

This approach reminds me of an earlier post of mine about Matthews:

Rupert Matthews, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland, has paid £250 to put up a Victorian-style police station blue lamp in Uppingham.

"The blue lamp is an iconic piece of British policing history and symbolises not only law, order and justice, but safety and sanctuary," he told BBC News.

Trouble is, there is no police station in Uppingham, and the inhabitants of Rutland's second city are far from impressed.

I'm afraid I couldn't resist the headline... Rupert Matthews: The lights are on but no one's at home.

Reform PCC for Leicestershire "asked officer to help arrange Putin-style photo with horse for election leaflet"

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Rupert Matthews, the Conservative turned Reform police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland, faced a police and crime panel meeting at Leicestershire County Council on today to answer questions about a complaint.

BBC News says the complaint was made after Matthews sent an "unsolicited" email to a serving officer. It was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which found no evidence to indicate a criminal offence had been committed. 

And the exciting news is that BBC News has been leaked a copy of the report the panel was considering:

The report states the complaint was referred to the IOPC on 4 September 2025.

It said Matthews "sent an unsolicited email to a police officer within Leicestershire Police, asking her to organise for him to have a photo taken with a horse for his next election leaflet, referencing a photograph of Russian president Vladimir Putin posing shirtless on horseback".

Rupert Matthews's office told BBC News that he had lodged a complaint about the leak of the report and that he is 

extremely frightened of horses and ... would never seek to work with them out of choice.

A refusal to mourn the demise of police and crime commissioners

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced today that police and crime commissioners will be abolished in 2028 when their current terms expire.

A home office press release says:

Since 2012, PCCs have been elected to hold forces to account, but turnout at the polls and public knowledge of who their local PCC is has been incredibly low.  

Public understanding of, and engagement with, PCCs remains low despite efforts to raise their profile. Two in five people are unaware PCCs even exist. 

Their roles will be absorbed by regional mayors wherever possible, meaning measures to cut crime will be considered as part of wider public services such as education and healthcare.  

In areas not covered by a mayor, this role will be taken on by elected council leaders.

I'm pleased to see this move, having called for it 18 months ago.

I wrote then:

Yesterday saw the third round of PCC elections, and I believe we can now say that the experiment has failed. It has not delivered any of what Cameron and the Home Office promised.

Not only that, it has proved an expensive experiment. PCCs have discovered the need to appoint a deputy on a generous public salary as well as the need to employ researchers.

Here in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, there was no visible campaign - on the doorstep or online - for the PCC election. And the Labour and Conservative candidates were both party hacks who have never made it to Westminster.

Though to be fair to Labour's Rory Palmer, he has, unlike his Conservative opponent Rupert Matthews, never been a lecturer on the paranormal for the International Metaphysical University or expressed the view that "the evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling".

You can still see a short clip of Rupert Matthews, who recently joined Reform UK, introducing his university course online.

As to the turnout for PCC elections, here in Leicestershire, at least, that was a function of the other elections being held at the same time. I said of the contest here:

In 2016 it took place at the same time as Leicester City Council elections, so the Labour vote came out there and we got a Labour PCC. Five years later it coincided with county council elections, so the Tory vote came out and we got a Tory PCC. 

The Guardian report on this story claims:

The abolition is a victory for chief constables and a sign of how influential they are in the Labour government’s thinking about policing.

It also makes the merger and abolition of local forces, which chiefs want and government is considering, potentially easier.

This doesn't cheer me, as something of a centralisation sceptic, but the PCC experiment has certainly failed.

Rupert Matthews, Leicestershire's Tory PCC, joins Reform UK

I leave Leicestershire for five minutes and look what happens. Our Conservative police and crime commissioner Rupert Matthews has defected to Reform UK.

Matthews, a publisher of books on esoteric subjects, got high on his own supply at some point and became a lecturer with the International Metaphysical University - it sometimes styled him as "Professor" Rupert Matthews.

There used to be a video of him introducing his course "PAR 501 Understanding Our Paranormal Universe" on the IMU website. That's been taken down, but you can still view an extract from it online.

The Liberal Democrats greeted the news of Matthews changing parties with:

"Elected Conservatives are becoming more and more like UFOs themselves - they're rarely if ever seen, and most people don't believe in them."

Do you what we did there? Rupert Matthews once told an American website:

The evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling. However, most of the evidence that suggests some sort of global threat is a lot less convincing.

But I suspect what will really worry Reform about him is this...

Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews has hailed the success of a state-of-the-art new solar farm at Police HQ which is helping the force reduce its carbon footprint and become greener. www.rupertmatthews.org.uk/news/new-sol...

[image or embed]

— Rupert Matthews (@rupertmatthews.bsky.social) 30 June 2025 at 12:29

Time to say "Evenin' all" to the police and crime commissioners

Police and crime commissioners have not lived up to the hopes for them when the role was created, so it should be scrapped.

In 2012 David Cameron told us:

"This is a big job for a big local figure. It’s a voice for the people, someone to lead the fight against crime, and someone to hold to account if they don’t deliver."

And:

"This isn’t just for politicians, but community leaders and pioneers of all sorts. People with real experience who’ve done things and run organisations, whether they are charities or companies.

"Whatever their background, they will need to be outstanding leaders ready to take a really big role on behalf of all of us."

While the Home Office press release those quotes are taken from said:

PCCs will bring a democratic voice to people in 41 police forces across England and Wales (outside London), replacing the current system of police authorities. They will not interfere in operational decisions, but will set the direction for chief constables. 

PCCs will be driven by one clear aim - to use the backing they have received from the public to deliver a real, tangible difference to the lives of the people they serve by cutting crime.

Yesterday saw the third round of PCC elections, and I believe we can now say that the experiment has failed. It has not delivered any of what Cameron and the Home Office promised.

Not only that, it has proved an expensive experiment. PCCs have discovered the need to appoint a deputy on a generous public salary as well as the need to employ researchers.

Here in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, there was no visible campaign - on the doorstep or online - for the PCC election. And the Labour and Conservative candidates were both party hacks who have never made it to Westminster.

Though to be fair to Labour's Rory Palmer, he has, unlike his Conservative opponent Rupert Matthews, never been a lecturer on the paranormal for the International Metaphysical University or expressed the view that "the evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling".

It seems that who wins the PCC contest here depends on what other elections are taking place at the same time. 

In 2016 it took place at the same time as Leicester City Council elections, so the Labour vote came out there and we got a Labour PCC. Five years later it coincided with county council elections, so the Tory vote came out and we got a Tory PCC.

Yesterday there were no other elections and Rupert Matthews won a second term with a majority of only 860. Rory Palmer would have won for Labour if the Tories had not changed the voting system since last time.

As to what we put in the place of PCCs, I suggest we go back to something like the old police authorities, which included various interest groups like local councils and magistrates.

I've seen no evidence that the system that replaced them has been better at overseeing local police forces.

Flying saucers over Market Harborough

The Leicester Mercury has a round up of three recent UFO sightings in the county. Among them is:

Last year also saw reported UFO sightings above Market Harborough when "highly reflective" objects were seen moving slowly in the sky. The objects, which also flashed at times, had an "unusual hue" according to the reports, while they were also irregular in shape.

Talk of UFOs naturally makes me think of our Conservative police and crime commissioner Rupert Matthews.

Sadly, a search reveals that, not only has the introductory video for his course for the International Metaphysical University disappeared from the web, but not the American site where he said:

"The evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling. However, most of the evidence that suggests some sort of global threat is a lot less convincing. It rests on dubious testimony or simply does not mesh with the mass of evidence about UFOs available elsewhere."

Leicestershire's police and crime commissioner vs Jack the Ripper

Here's an unexpected sight in our local outlet for remaindered books. For, as well as being a prolific author and publisher of volumes on esoteric subjects, Rupert Matthews is the Conservative police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Leicestershire.

I can't accuse him of neglecting his duties here to pound the streets of Whitechapel as I'm pretty sure this is a reissue of a book he first published in 2013.

But it may explain where he got his funny idea of installing Victorian 'Police Station' signs even where there is no police station.

This may be a good week to say that I've never seen the point of PCCs. Their offices seem to consume a remarkable amount of public money with little to show for it.

And in Northamptonshire the Tory PCC is facing open revolt by pretty much everyone, as the Northampton Chronicle & Echo reports:

The county’s most senior fire and police officers have launched an unprecedented attack on commissioner Stephen Mold after he called his incoming fire boss a ‘b**ch’.

Northamptonshire Police Federation Chair Sam Dobbs said that Mr Mold’s remarks were ‘abhorrent’, while Acting Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet said it was a ‘disgraceful episode.’

This morning (Wednesday, March 20) the Acting Chief Fire Officer Simon Tuhill also weighed in, saying that the Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s remarks ‘clearly made it impossible for him to legitimately hold me and this service to account’.

He has already announced he will not be standing again in May following what may fairly be described as a series of controversies.

Rupert Matthews: The lights are on but no one's at home

Rupert Matthews, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland, has paid £250 to put up a Victorian-style police station blue lamp in Uppingham.

"The blue lamp is an iconic piece of British policing history and symbolises not only law, order and justice, but safety and sanctuary," he told BBC News.

Trouble is, there is no police station in Uppingham, and the inhabitants of Rutland's second city are far from impressed.

Some of them spoke to Lincs Online:

Uppingham resident Dan Marshall, 45, said: "There is a big difference between a local bobby occasionally using an office to do admin and a police station.

"The issue I have is this lamp, which is lit up at night, gives the false impression that it is a manned police station when it isn’t." 

Another local said: “What happens when someone genuinely needs help and tries to enter the police station at night and finds it’s closed? It’s a gimmick, it’s no more a police station than my two-year-old’s toy police car can chase after criminals.”

I rather lost touch with Mr Matthews's activities while I was caring for my mum, but he used to be a reliable source of stories for this blog.

You can find those stories on my Rupert Matthews label, though sadly the video of him introducing the course he taught for the International Metaphysical University has been taken down.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Government approves just three more police officers for the whole of Leicestershire and Rutland

Hurry over to the website of Rupert Matthews, the eccentric police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland, for some exciting news:

Yesterday I received a letter from Chris Philps MP, the Policing Minister. It contained the good news that the Conservative Government had agreed to my request to provide the funding for additional police officers in Leicestershire & Rutland. 

This being government money, there were strings attached. For a start we received the funding for only three extra officers, but it would be churlish to complain ab out (sic) that.

If your tea cups are rattling, it's Leicestershire's criminals quaking in their boots.

Matthews should be complaining and complaining loudly. He's paid by the people of Leicestershire and Rutland, not the Conservative Party, and should stand up for our interests.

Former lecturer on the paranormal is the Tory candidate for Leicestershire and Rutland's PCC

Later. This video is no longer on YouTube, but you still view part of it online.

Rupert Matthews MEP, a former lecturer on the paranormal with the "International Metaphysical University" was today chosen as the Conservative candidate for 2020's police and crime commissioner election in Leicestershire and Rutland.

According to Michael Crick, who has taken an interest in Matthews' eccentricities, the course he introduces above would have set you back $425 in 2012.

Back in the days of Conservative modernisation, the party was not amused by the cover of a book published by Bretwalda Books - Matthews describes himself as its 'editorial director'.

Defending himself to the BBC in 2011, he said:

"I'm a shareholder in the company but I didn't do that one - I do the history stuff."

But what are the implications of Matthews' idiosyncratic take on the world? How would it affect his conduct of the role if he were elected to a role currently filled by Labour's Willy Bach?

True, he is on record as saying:

"The evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling."

But there is good news too:

"However, most of the evidence that suggests some sort of global threat is a lot less convincing. It rests on dubious testimony or simply does not mesh with the mass of evidence about UFOs available elsewhere."

So maybe he won't want to raise his precept to fight those humanoid creatures linked to UFOs.

Tory PCC hopeful is an expert on ghosts as well as aliens

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I regard myself as a Fortean - happy in general to accept that "there are more things in heaven and earth...", but distinctly sceptical in individual cases.

Recently I came across a podcast called The Unexplained, which is introduced by a smooth professional broadcaster called Howard Hughes who has an obvious interest in such matters.

Some of the episodes are really good. I recommend one on the death of Dr David Kelly with the journalist Miles Goslett and the most recent one, which looks at the D.B. Cooper plane hijacking in the US.

There are also interviews with David Icke - I have passed on those.

But what do we find if we skim through the other episodes?

Step forward Rupert Matthews, would be police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland and believer in UFOs and aliens.

In one episode Matthews talks to Hughes about the ghosts of Hampton Court and Surrey in general.

He comes over rather well and I like his theory that talk of a ghost can be a way of keeping a horrific crime alive in local memory.

But he does sound mighty sure that ghosts exist.

Tory UFO expert wants to be in charge of Leicestershire's police

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This blog used to have great fun with Rupert Matthews, the wannabee Tory MEP who believed that "the evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling".

In July 2017 he finally got his wish and things went quiet.

But he will soon need a new job, hence this report in the Leicester Mercury:

Three Conservatives are in the running to try to win back the seat of Leicestershire police and crime commissioner from Labour. 

The next PCC election will be held in May 2020 and the Tories are due to select their candidate next month. 

Deputy leader of Melton Borough Council Leigh Higgins, East Midlands MEP Rupert Matthews, and Leicestershire County Council cabinet member Blake Pain have been shortlisted for the candidacy.

It makes you wonder what the long list looked like.

Tory expert on UFOs and the paranormal, Rupert Matthews, finally makes it to the European parliament

Back at the end of 2011, Roger Helmer was still a Conservative MEP. He was minded to retire from the European parliament, but wanted assurances that the first unelected candidate on the party's East Midlands list at the 2009 Euro elections would be appointed in his place.

This brought that candidate, Rupert Matthews, blinking into the light.

It turned out that Matthews was an author and publisher, and that among whose interests were the ghosts and UFOs. Nothing wrong with that - I have labels for ghosts and UFOs on this blog.

But it also transpired that something called the International Metaphysical University was describing Matthews as one of their professors - you can see him in action in the video above - and that he was on record as saying that

"The evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling. However, most of the evidence that suggests some sort of global threat is a lot less convincing. It rests on dubious testimony or simply does not mesh with the mass of evidence about UFOs available elsewhere."

Though, judging by the searches that brought Conservative Central Office to this blog, it was Matthews' publication of a book with this charming cover that spooked them.

Whatever the reason, Tory high command declined to give Roger Helmer the assurances he sought. So he stayed in the European parliament but left the party and joined Ukip.

Then the 2014 Euro elections took place and Matthews was again the first unelected candidate on the Conservative list.

At last month's general election one of the Conservative MEPs for the East Midlands, Andrew Lewer, was elected MP for Northampton South and resigned from the European parliament.

Today it was announced that Rupert Matthews will take his place at the European parliament.

His views on Europe make his paranormal investigations sound sensible. So he should fit in with the group very well.

Roger Helmer to quit the European Parliament

Reaction to the news that Roger Helmer is to stand down as one of the East Midlands MEPs is meeting with a mixed reaction across the region.

Reports are reaching us of wailing and gnashing of teeth in Market Bosworth and the more remote regions of Kesteven, while there has been dancing in the streets of Matlock.

As we go to press there are Facebook rumours of outbreaks of public disorder in Cropwell Bishop.

But I thought it would be appropriate if Liberal England paid its own tribute to Mr Helmer. He has certainly given us plenty to write about.

He first spoke of retiring from the European parliament in 2011 when he was still a Conservative. But when the Tories declined to allow him to be succeeded by a self-proclaimed expert on UFOs and alien abductions, he decided to say on and cross the floor to Ukip.

In August 2012 he was obliged to move his office from the Harborough Innovation Centre, a facility for start-up tech companies opened with the help of public money. "I have to admit I'm not a start-up tech company,” he admitted.

That same month he was a few seconds from providing this blog with a scoop.

In August 2013 he told Stephen Nolan of his belief that girls aged under 16 could consent to sex.

And in October 2014 he performed the considerable feat of discovering a Thai massage parlour in Lutterworth.

Since then things have been quieter. But, truly, we shall not see his like again.

A few minutes later. A report on the Guardian site suggests we may not have heard the last of Mr Helmer:

Roger Helmer, a key member of Ukip’s top team, is resigning from the European parliament, ahead of a demand to repay around £100,000 of EU money for alleged misuse of public funds.

In which I am mentioned in the Independent

My story about Nicky Morgan having a book published by the eccentric Bretwalda Books made it into Andy McSmith's Independent Diary this morning.

I even got a mention there myself. Along with paying my respects to Richard III, that made it an enjoyable birthday morning,

Writing it the other day led me to rediscover this blog's Rupert Matthews label.

I had forgotten just how much entertainment is to be found there. Do click on it yourself if you want some fun.

Nicky Morgan's peculiar choice of publisher

The Loughborough Echo reports that Nick Morgan - secretary of state for education and the town's MP - has written a children’s activity non-fiction book about Loughborough during the Civil War.

Good for her, but it's the book's publisher that interests Liberal England.

In 2011 we blogged about the Bretwalda Books title "Britain - A Post Political Correctness Society" by Bill Etheridge. You can see its cover here.

When he wrote the book Etheridge was a Conservative, but he left the party after he and his wife were photographed with golliwogs on their Facebook page.

Today he is a Ukip MEP. He was last heard of last August, advising his new party's young activists to copy Hitler's style of oratory.

Bretwalda Books books is run by Rupert Matthews, who has provided this blog with much entertainment over the years.

Bill Etheridge: "I suppose they'll be saying Hitler was a racist next"

The Mail on Sunday tells us:

Nigel Farage was facing a storm of protest last night after one of his MEPs was revealed to have coached Ukip candidates to emulate Hitler. 

Bill Etheridge described the Nazi dictator as a ‘magnetic and forceful public speaker’ who ‘achieved a great deal’ – and said the candidates should copy the rhetorical style deployed by Hitler at the Nuremberg rallies.

It seems this advice was given last weekend at a training event for young Ukip members planning to be council or parliamentary candidates.

So if your local fruitcakes march to the stage accompanied by the 'cathedral of light' they went in for at Nuremberg and then spends minutes staring at the audience before they start speaking, you will know who has been training them.

Of course, to the British Hitler's performance always seemed ranting and laughable. Perhaps Mr Etheridge has spent more time watching them than most of us?

This is not the first time Etheridge has graced the pages of this blog. He and his wife left the Conservative Party after they were disciplined for posing with golliwogs and putting the photos on their Facebook page.

He then had a book published by the Conservative Euro candidate Rupert Matthews, which featured a golliwog on it cover, Matthews seems to have done his best to hide this fact afterwards.

All of which reminds me of this moment from A Bit of Fry and Laurie...

Expert on aliens is no. 3 on Tory East Midlands Euro list

Remember Rupert Matthews? He's the Tory who teaches courses for the International Metaphysical University and believes "the evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling".

And its not just that he makes David Tredinnick look like a Nobel laureate: Matthews' eccentricity has a less appealing side.

Well, the news is that he will be no. 3 on the Conservative Party's list for the East Midlands at the next European elections.

You may also remember that Roger Helmer wanted to stand down as one of the region's MEPs halfway through this parliament, but said he would do so only if Conservative HQ would guarantee that Matthews (the highest placed unsuccessful Tory on the East Midlands list last time round) would replace him.

No such guarantee was forthcoming. Not only did Helmer fail to resign from the European parliament, he joined UKIP.

This incident shows what is wrong with the closed-list system for European elections that the last Labour government introduced. Parties and MEPs come to regard seats as their personal property.

The practice of stepping down halfway through a parliament to allow your successor time to bed in (of which the Liberal Democrats have been as fond as anyone) should be discouraged in particular.

As no. 3 on the Tory list, Rupert Matthews probably will not make it to the European parliament next time. He should concentrate on the inter-galactic elections of 2017.

Roger Helmer joins UKIP and lets me and Rupert Matthews down

As you will appreciate, the news that Roger Helmer, one of the Conservative MEPs for the East Midlands, has joined UKIP is a bitter blow to me. It means there is now no chance of Rupert Matthews taking his place in Brussels.

At a stroke, I have been robbed of a rich seam of comic post reporting Matthews' adventures in the European Parliament - they might even had made him Commissioner for Outer Space. Now that prospect has been swept away from me.

Regular readers will recall (new ones should start here) that Helmer had intended to resign at the start of this year, assuming that Matthews would take his place as the highest unelected candidate on the Conservative list at the last European elections.

But Tory HQ obviously had doubt about the cut of Matthews' jib. I have reason to believe that these related more to do with his consorting with golliwogs and Etheridges than his enthusiasm for ghosts and UFOs. So they made it clear that there was no guarantee that Matthews would take Helmer's place if he resigned, and Helmer decided not to resign as a result.

Helmer was clearly furious about this. In today's Daily Mail he talks of the "deliberate obstinacy and recalcitrance" of the party's chairman Baroness Warsi:

"She has brought this on herself. I couldn’t make her do the right thing, but I can make her regret doing the wrong thing."

I have more time for Baroness Warsi than is fashionable in Liberal Democrat circles and it is easy to see that a male Conservative of Helmer's generation could have problems dealing with a party chairman who is a woman, from the working class, a Muslim and from a Pakistani background even before it got to having political differences.

My own view is that the situation shows how undesirable the list system is. If Helmer wants to resign the identity of his successor should be decided by the voters, not by the Conservative Party or Helmer himself.

Rupert Matthews, whether out of loyalty or prudence, has taken a very different line. Giles McNeill has the statement he issued today:

I am shocked and disappointed at Roger Helmer’s decision to betray his public promises to the people of the East Midlands and his private promises to his colleagues. 

Since Roger announced that he was standing down as the MEP, many people in the East Midlands have spent a considerable amount of time and effort in preparing for Roger’s retirement, my taking his place in Brussels and the unavoidable upheavals that this would have entailed. I myself was looking forward very much to representing the people of the East Midlands and the Conservative Party in the European Parliament. It is unfortunate that all this time and effort has been rendered useless by Roger’s actions. 

I wish to make it clear that I have no intention of following Roger to UKIP and that I will continue to serve the Conservative Party as loyally as I have in the 28 years since I joined the party. I will be working hard to ensure the return of Conservative candidates in the local elections in May and at the next European Election in 2014.

But for the time being, there will be more desk space at Three Crowns Yard.

Michael Crick meets Rupert Matthews

Michael Crick had a report on Channel 4 News this evening about the continuing saga of Roger Helmer's resignation (or not) as one of the MEPs for the East Midlands and whether Rupert Matthews will replace him.

In his accompanying blog post he writes:

When I went to see Rupert Matthews at his home in Surrey today he refused to speak on camera. He doesn't want to upset his chances. 

Off-camera, he denied several times to my face that he was a teacher for the IMU, and had merely designed the course. Yet in the IMU's online video Matthews talks to camera of being "your tutor for the course". Matthews denies being a professor for the university, though they were calling him such up to the end of last week. 

And he denied that IMU gives out degrees, though their website quite clearly offer masters degrees. All very odd.

I agree with Crick's conclusion:

Conservative HQ says it will do what it can to help Matthews take over Helmer's seat. But they still want to question him. And I can't help feeling that question process will lead to Matthews being rejected, or persuaded to abandon his claim. That would be a pity in a way, for Rupert Matthews would be a lot more colourful than most MEPs.

And from a purely selfish point of view, if he does not become and MEP I shall be robbed of a stream of blog posts that write themselves.

If you want more background to this affair, read my earlier posts on Rupert Matthews.