What to make of Boris and his honours list? The act of a romantic, mad, bad Byronic hero or the work of an unkempt Jack Falstaff larding the lean earth not with sweat but with ill-gotten and misplaced largesse?

To more positive, South-West things and the difference between cause and effect. This inter alia explains why the first powered flight was not made by a Concorde lookalike. The first powered flight, albeit unmanned, was made decades before the Wright Brothers by a pair of Chard-based lace mill engineers, Messrs Henson and Stringfellow. Yay, let’s hear it for the South-West! The astonishing power-to-weight of their miniature steam engine came from the engineering skills needed for the intricate world of mechanised lace-making. A bit of analysis after the event points up cause and effect. Their canvas, marine-style propeller was only ever good enough for a few yards of level flight. All that knowledge and skill, experimentation and incremental improvement missed the target when it came to the critical component of the airscrew. Sad but true.
When the Conservatives under Cameron and Osborne moved Social Care out from under the NHS, moving responsibility to local government, did they also move enough money? You know the answer. Cause followed by effect, hard-wired.
Privatisation of energy supply – and, frankly, the other utilities – led to the managerialist effect of the salaries you see, the dividends you see, the hollowed out service ethos you see, all those compulsory pay-as-you-go meters, the ‘it’s market forces’ bleats from the regulators. Cause and effect – lose your grip, expect to fall; fail to lead, expect to come in second or worse. American electricity is half the price in the UK; French electricity only a bit more. Where we are is a disgrace and hurting all of us. We now have our own cold, home-made huddled masses.
This Government feels most comfortable strategising and politicising within its metropolitan self but seems less able to do, to deliver. The effect is a diminution of governmental reach and a loss of faith in the importance of elections and politicians. Who must we look to to fix the lack of housing, dentistry and GP availability, long waiting lists, the exorbitant price of rail travel, putting tomatoes on the shelves? If less than effective government is the cause, then the effect needs to be that we plan and do more for ourselves within our local and regional communities. Look at the work of the Dorset Climate Action Network. Look at the foodbanks, pantries and community fridges across the county. Look at all the volunteering going on. The future is not about ‘them’ and ‘us’, the cause of so much friction and discord. The effect will be a coming together as ‘we, all of us’. Vote accordingly in May, if you have the chance, I say. But, vote – and don’t forget your photo ID!