For decades, many voters and pollsters have written off rural Dorset as being of any political interest due to its habit of consistently returning the same party to Parliament.
As I read the letters page of this publication, do I detect that the blue wall might be crumbling here too?
Indeed, I can’t help but wonder sometimes, reading the wittering of local Tory MPs, whether they’ve given up.
Are they eyeing the next life raft to a job in a right-wing thing tank, or the Campaign for Rural England?
Particularly common from them at this time of year is the veneration of charities that help families put food on the table at Christmas.

Whilst philanthropy is laudable, millions in the UK shouldn’t be reliant on a patchwork of charities to mop up after the Conservative’s failure to feed the country.
There are different, intelligent choices available.
More than 800,000 children in the UK are living in poverty but are not eligible for free school meals because, cruelly, the threshold for qualification has not increased with inflation.
PWC calculated that extending meals to them would generate £1.71 in core economic benefit for every £1 invested – higher than for an increase in Universal Credit.
And extending free school meals into the holidays would take the fear out of Christmas for families.
I know what Conservatives will say – it’s not the duty of the state to feed people.
I agree. The state should be fostering an economy that works for its citizens, providing sufficiently well-paid, secure jobs so that people can feed themselves.
But the Tories have failed to do that. So here we are.
For children in poverty, either the state feeds them, or it forces them to food banks like the one in Sturminster Newton – run by a Tory councillor! Truly, this is the Conservative circular economy.
And what of the Lib-Dems? We saw their new columnist last issue brazenly attempt to take credit for the creation of the welfare state.

Deary me. What historical revisionism. They had 12 MPs when Labour created the welfare state in the 1945 government.
Ms Slade brushes over the more recent fact that her Lib-Dem party voted through round upon round of austerity as part of the 2010-2015 Coalition government, the scars of which are still felt today. Dorset doesn’t forget.
I choose to look forward to a brighter future next year.
One where – let us dream for a second – the Tories give in to public pressure and call for an election.
One which brings in a Labour government with local Labour MPs that don’t leave it to Children in Need to support children in need.