This little phone, pictured, is my present to myself for this summer. It’s a Nokia 2630, costing £35 and distinguished by what it can’t do. No 3G. No email. No internet. No PoliticsHome, no ConservativeHome – just my wife’s family home in the outskirts of Stockholm, where I will be spending the next fortnight. I have all manner of missions lined up. There is a Swedish cookbook whose secrets I want to master. And there is a charming, rather charismatic 19-month-old boy I want to spend some time getting to know a little better.
Last time I tried to take time off completely – sans internet – was my honeymoon. But the Blair coup happened and I ended up filing a cover story from my hotel – which my wife still teases me for. I shall endeavour to make it through the whole two weeks this time, although the hilarious ‘crisis meeting after 12 years of failed leftist policies’ by Demos (embargoed for tomorrow) tempted me deeply. I shall make only one exception: I shall check this post to see if anyone can recommend some good holiday reading other than the books I haven’t read in the Flashman series (I’m halfway through Flashman and the Dragon now). So that’s it: I’m going cold turkey. See you on August 3rd.
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