After some hope from the US mid-terms British politics is reminding us what a car crash western democracies have become: divisive leaders and media urging us towards self-harm because they fetishise some boys-own vision of world war era machismo.

My ability—nay, skill—to perfectly lip-sync Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ doesn’t get demonstrated enough but today was one of those precious, precious days.

Finally got my hands on a **big** iPad after itching for one for a long long time. The screen is luscious.

Preparing for my schools’ parent governor elections had while watching the approaching US mid-terms has made me realise what a luxury it is to have elections where the candidates are all, basically, good. Sadly politics on both sides of the Atlantic seems so far from that now.

Marina Hyde on David Cameron. Harsh, but accurate.

With the obvious exception of the giant, epoch-defining balls-up he made on his own terms, he is almost without other legacy.

I put myself firmly in the category of frustrated writer so am always a little envious of people starting NaNoWriMo projects today. I’ll just have to stick with feeble excuses like ‘too busy’.

That’s Halloween done for another year.