Political sparring and hard tackling

An energetic weekend began on Friday evening when I addressed the Politics Society at Emmanuel College, Cambridge . First, dinner in their beautiful hall, followed by a speech and Q&A in the Old Library. Undergraduates can either be too clever by half, or too sycophantic. This lot managed to find the middle road - intelligent and interesting, and I didn't get away until 11.15pm, which will give you a clue as to how much I enjoyed the evening.

The following day, my rugby team, Cambridge, smashed Wharfedale, 52-7. But the hightlight of the afternoon was an outstanding speech made by their president, the former England centre, John Spencer, who beguiled us with his wit and wisdom, that his team were quite unable to duplicate thirty minutes later.

In the evening, I travelled to Bedford to do an auction which raised £20,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support, and was organised by Pippa McLuskie and her husband Ian. At every function I attend, there's always someone who's devoted hours of their time and energy to making something work, for which they get little reward other than the joy of seeing a job well done. Pippa and Ian are two such people, supporting a first class cause. Once again, I didn't escape until nearly midnight, but the entertainment - the singing waiters and two disc jockeys from Bedford - sent everyone home in a happy mood, despite these tough times.

On Sunday, I visited John Mills, the distinguished former president of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, at his home in Baldock. I enjoyed an afternoon viewing his works from over the past 40 years, many of which are displayed in his handsome garden, together with the smaller works in his studio. As a collector, he told me I should look at Epstein and Underwood, as they were, in his opinion, vastly under-rated when compared to Henry Moore. His wife, Jo, had baked a batch of delicious biscuits, which is why I put on a couple of pounds yesterday afternoon, and had to work extremely hard in the gym this morning.