No-one can say British seaside weather isn’t changeable, can they? Of course, it’s more than an inconvenience in towns like Blackpool and Cleveleys which rely on tourism so much. Driving up and down the prom, I have really felt for the bedraggled tourists I have seen – many of whom dressed in expectation of better weather. The McDonalds on the Prom has been full to bursting each time I’ve driven past though – no wonder I read in today’s newspaper that the chain are serving two million more customers a month than a year ago. ‘Healthy eating’ seems to be taking a hit in the credit crunch.

The sun has come out occasionally, I know, and that’s been good for all of us. I took advantage of ‘only’ mild drizzle to go for a walk in the Trough of Bowland with a few friends. You could argue it was forcible kidnapping – it doesn’t kill me to spend a day not canvassing or leafletting! I realise this makes me sound like a dog being taken for a walk. As you can see from the photo, I have a delightly orange mac, a leftover from last year’s Garden Makeover in Grange Park. Certainly help if I ever got lost in the hills.

Enough of my holiday tales. I’m looking forward to hearing Ed Balls’ holiday tales. He seems to be following his old pal Gordon’s trick of never being around when the bad news breaks. The SATs results just released seem to owe more to Carol Vorderman’s random number generator than any reality in terms of educational performance. It underlines just why we need an independent Statistics Commission to be in charge of publishing government data, rather than letting politicians, loaded with self-interest, from doing so. Whatever these results show, they don’t get away from the fact that four in ten pupils are leaving primary school without adequate literacy, numeracy and science skills. Come on Ed, don’t be shy now – tell us what went wrong!