I’m working all over Christmas at LBC. In fact I only have one day off next Saturday. So do join me all this week and Sunday from 10am-1pm. You can even listen on Christmas morning while you peel your sprouts! And if any of you fancy ringing in, do not resist temptation. I always imagine no one ringing in on Christmas Day, but then I realise that there are a lot of people who spend Christmas Day on their own and that the radio performs an important form of social service.
I should get home around 2.15pm. We never eat at lunchtime on Christmas Day, and this year our friends Dan and Laura are coming over at 5pm, bringing with them three children and three dogs. What can possibly go wrong? It’ll be carnage.
And then it’s up early on Boxing Day for another three hour stint on the radio. I hadn’t realised trains don’t run on Boxing Day, so another opportunity to get another 20mph speeding ticket.
I have to finish three books in the next 9 days and luckily I’m on course to do so. When I finish this newsletter I’ll complete the final chapter of my Margaret Thatcher biography, then I have to write the introduction to BRITISH BY-ELECTIONS and edit some more of the essays which have already come in for GENERALS.
I’m back on evenings from Monday 30 December, which means I’ll be on air on New Year’s Eve AND New Year’s Day evenings, something I’ve never done before. God knows what I’ll have planned to encourage people to phone in. Perhaps I’ll just tell people to phone in on anything they like!
So thank you to all of you who listen to my radio show, listen to my podcasts, read my books, or just read my Sunday newsletter. I can’t pretend 2024 will go down as one of the better years of my life, as you’ll be able to read in my I Newspaper column on Tuesday, but I’m always optimistic about the year ahead.
I hope you have a lovely Christmas and a very happy new year.