Just a bit put out that these diaries appear after the two volumes covering 1999-2010, ie. you have to backtrack whereas I really would have preferred to read them chronologically. However, they are such a good read and, although Mr Mullin always makes it clear he never reached the political heights, his observations and tit bits give you a real insight into the world of politics and how it works (or doesn't work). The one reservation I have in the back of my mind is that these diaries were produced in 2010 and I feel have on occasions been edited with hindsight. To be fair though Mr Mullin makes frequent favourable references to the early Stephen Byers and we all know what a rotter he turned out to be. His feet remained firmly on the ground (no ministerial car and a regular user of the 159 bus between Brixton and Westminster) he also draws a very gloomy picture of the social damage done by 18 years of Thatcherism; his constituency work in Sunderland was frequently not easy.