Pub

The local election results are in. The undoubted winner in our ward was the NOTA party (None Of The Above). I didn't vote for them, but I must admit I was sorely tempted. Given the popularity of NOTA, you would think the other parties might consider whether their own policies are those that the electorate want

Our district is now apparently under "no overall control". That sounds blissful - perhaps that's as close as we could get to what the majority apparently wanted

Our nearest town is Chipping Norton, which is famous for its association with a particular slice of the elite establishment - the "Chipping Norton Set" - including former prime minister Cameron. Shock news: Chipping Norton is a Labour gain. This is not such a surprise to the locals. The town has a proud working class history. In the Tudor period, the local vicar led a rising against religious repression and the Enclosures; this was brutally repressed by the local aristocrat and the vicar hanged from his church tower

In the 19th century, there were riots in support of the Ascott Martyrs - our local. variant on the Tolpuddle Martyrs - women who were sentenced to prison for remonstrating with strike-breakers in a farm-workers strike. Just before WWI, there was an eight-month strike by workers at the local woolen mill

We have fled the shires for a weekend city-break. We picked one of a selection of breweries within easy walking distance for a beer and bar food in the tap room - in this case a cavernous steel shed on an industrial site - on trestle tables and benches, in the midst of the brewing vessels. The beer is cloudy (it's fashionable) and the food was a vegan Korean rice bowl. Both were excellent. Trasitional pubs are struggling to stay in business; this place was struggling to keep the queue of customers for the bar down to single figures. The mood was cheeeful and neighbourly. An amiable labrador snuck off to make friends while its young owner's attention was elsewhere. People chewed over the week's events - maybe some were even discussing the elections. Not for the first time, pubs arw re-inventing themselves