In the States, witnesses 'take the stand', even though they sit. In the UK they don't 'take the stand', even though they do stand.

Delighted to announce my play A CABINET MEETING has just been published by Lazy Bee Scripts - a quietly moving one-act drama about the Polish government still in exile in the 1980s. lazybeescripts.co.uk/Scripts/Script…

this had better be front page tomorrow @nyt and The Washington Post

Best line of the evening, from my wife: Is that an alien, or is it Tom Cruise?

It's getting a bit weird now. C3PO versus an army of Egyptian mummies.

Watched The Day of the Jackal yesterday and noted: a) the impeccable gents' tailoring in those days (esp the Jackal) b) how effective a thriller can be without music c) the cumbersome but stylish communications. None of your flagged emails: uniformed motorcycle despatch riders.

Sean Lang 🇺🇦 🇬🇧, our distinguished festival host, will be facilitating the Q&A. He will be a great addition to the panel with his academic mind and wealth of acting and playwriting experience. Info & booking - eventbrite.co.uk/e/hints-and-re… #dramafestival #cambridge ARU

You can measure how far you have grown and matured by the frequency with which you recognise that a) your parents and b) the Victorians did actually have a point.

The scrapping of one-word Ofsted judgements is welcome news. You wouldn't sum up a child in a single word, so how can you sum up hundreds of children and their teachers in that way? But reform will not be complete until Ofsted is held as publicly accountable as schools are.

A single-word Ofsted judgement does not 'help' or 'inform' parents: it deceives them.

The scrapping of one-word Ofsted judgements is welcome news. But Ofsted must be held as publicly accountable as schools are, by a body with the power to overturn an inaccurate or biased report, to whom schools can turn without going to the expense of going to law.

You can hear on BBC Sounds the interviews Edmund Barnett-Ward and I did on BBC Radio 5 Live with Nicky Campbell about Ofsted. Today's news is the start of a very necessary process of change. Those in Cambridge can hear me talk about it on BBC Cambridgeshire 5.10-5.30 and Cambridge 105 Radio 8.10 tomorrow.

The report on Ofsted's response to Ruth Perry's suicide, for which it was overwhelmingly responsible, is SHOCKING. There is no moral difference whatever between Ofsted's managers and those of the Post Office.

My comment on the Ofsted issue in today's Times:

Absolutely right - well said Frank Cottrell-Boyce. BBC News - Libraries important for human contact, Children's Laureate says bbc.com/news/articles/…

I enjoy Michael Portillo's railway journeys, but for that extra dose of reality, I am still waiting for his series Great Rail Replacement Bus Journeys.

At the BBC Cambridgeshire Made a Difference Awards. A really inspiring tribute to the very best of human nature. Ordinary people - wonderful people.

This rather illustrates my point, that republics, unless they are very careful, veer towards monarchy: ‘France now a presidential monarchy’ news.sky.com/video/share-13…

I have just seen Snickers bars on sale for £2.45 each in an ibis Hôtels FR pizzeria! With a price that size they really should go back to Marathon.