An old saying is "Those who know no history, are condemned to repeat it" . In today's New York Times, author Paul Theroux recalls his time in a politically inspired lockdown in Uganda. and says, "In times of crisis we should all be diarists and documentarians." He highlights the diaries of Samuel Pepys, which were written during the Great Plague of 1665 as an example. Now I doubt that my diaries will be considered to rank with Samuel Pepys three centuries plus from now. But it is good to have encouragement from others to keep writing. Parliamentary colleague, and Deputy Presiding Officer, Christine Grahame, like me an 8th decader, is also writing daily. Indeed I think she started earlier than me. So the encouragement to write comes from many quarters. But I am not sure that I need that. Each day it seems to come a wee bit easier. I have an electronic scratch-pad that I jot down ideas for writing on. The list of potential topics keeps growing even as I remove it