I DON'T always see eye to eye with Jack Straw, but he's been good as Foreign Secretary.

I feel he has been treated shamefully. It seems we are now to be told who or who should not hold that office by the White House.

This is no way to treat an honourable man because he voiced his doubts about Iran, and Iraq. Shame on you Tony.

I sat in the garden the other day trying not to think about poltiics, and felt the warm sun on my back.

It was grand. I am not a sun lover anything over the 70s and I'm looking for a shady spot.

I once lived in Trinidad for a little while, and my friend, who was there permanently, used to say Oh, I'd never go back to live in cold, wet Lancashire,' whereas I couldn't wait.

But most folk who live in hot climates very rarely go out in the sun.

They have the air conditioning on at 60 per cent, not just in their homes but in the car, where they work or shop, so they don't really live in a hot climate.' We stayed up the top of the island once at Toko for a break.

It was isolated,' no shops or anything like that, so at teatime each day we would go down to the beach, where spread out on big green leaves would be the day's catch of the village fisherman.

The local folk would appear with various foods, a scrawny chicken, mangoes, paw paws, a few mangy veg; these would be swopped or exchanged. We were very welcome for we had rice, flour and delicacies from the town.' It sounds a little odd but it worked quite well and everyone got their evening meal.

It worries me a little that we are going down the road of neglecting our farmers.

I think we should be trying to make ourselves self-sufficient as far as food is concerned.

Being an island makes us vulnerable, so we should beware of being too dependent on foodstuff from overseas. Could we go down to the beach and be sure of bringing back our evening meal?

We have lost our fishing industry and our dairy farming is struggling, but the good news is we can sell our beef abroad.

I had tea in the Mayor's parlour on Monday and I must say Jan, our Mayor, was very charming and very patient as he listened to me go on about what I thought we, in Blackburn, should be doing.

On Wednesday I was out at Higham village hall with the Lady Farmers. Thanks girls! Nancy, a friend of mine, always used to say Margo do remember, we are always, always, girls.' Oh! The bantam eggs made great omelettes.

I've been at it again, shopping, buying clothes. Why, when my wardrobe is packed to overflowing?

Now the only excuse I can offer is that naked folk have absolutely no influence on society and they don't look very good either!

Till next week.