I wanted to introduce you to Simon Hoggart, who is The Guardian's political sketchwriter and a journalist whose work I like very much. He has a gentle, very polite, very English sense of humour, not dissimilar to that of Miles Kington. I realise many of the situations and personalities he talks about here will be meaningless to those of you on the other side of the village pond, but he's worth looking at just for his writing, and he does tell some very entertaining stories.

In the most recent sketch here, he mentions an American site called Electoral Compass. I don't know whether you've heard of it, but I gave it a try and it turns out I'm politically closest to Obama.

We're off to Poland tomorrow, to celebrate the fiftieth wedding anniversary of Bogna's parents. I'm unlikely to find myself in a posting situation, or even a chance to check what's been going on - although you never know - so look after the villages while I'm gone. We're back next Tuesday.