Alastair Stewart: 'Travelling with dementia can be a challenge and this week was no exception'

Sally ordered a small garden shed from Homebase which will be their new home in the pond area where the existing duck houses are small and need replacing anyway. We got a delivery date and time.

When it didn’t turn up we phoned the deliverers who said they couldn’t deliver because the manufacturer wouldn’t deliver to Homebase, a business sadly now in administration. So, alas, we have had to make alternative arrangements. Maybe it will be warmer and drier by then. We’ve already had one duck egg, which I can reveal is beautifully big and blue.

It is something to look forward to and the ducks, even in the stable, give me much pleasure. I’ve written before about how animals can raise the spirits of people like me with dementia. Plus with Sal and our eldest son Alex sorting out the delivery I know all will be well.

Another bit of good news was that the Department of Work and Pensions phoned and said they were making progress but needed to deal with Sal due to my dementia. She has a Power of Attorney anyway so that is all fine. At least they are on the case.

The headline good news was my hoped-for meeting with Lord John Reid and Charles Clarke, fellow leaders of the NUS in the 1970s… happened - and it was a triumph. Getting to London and back remains a challenge and none of the train timetable websites are easy for someone with dementia to navigate… The heavy rains also took their toll on services and there was engineering work, too. What works well though are the South West Train services on social media, especially Twitter/X which offers direct messaging.

Alex drove me to the station and helped me get my ticket. The guard gave regular announcements on our progress. I got a taxi to the Lords and it was game on. John invited us for tea in the House of Lords. I like the place and have many friends therein, some by accident of birth, others by dint of merit, contribution to society or their job as with the Bishops.

I also like the place because it is where the three wings of the State come together at the state opening of Parliament, which I used to love commentating on. Crown, legislature, executive, judiciary, military, and Church.

It is also a beautiful part of the Palace of Westminster. I waited in the seating area by security and next to the first bank of coat hooks. And, as an addict of Wolf Hall, I was amused to see the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshall, had two hooks by his name card. Two more recent adornments to the House I spotted were Lords Kinnock and Lord Soames.

I spoke to Neil who I’d not seen since his wife had died, so I wanted to offer my condolences. But I missed catching Nick for a chat as he was clearly in a hurry. John arrived, but no sign yet of Charles. John phoned him to discover he was waiting for us in the Pugin room, a delightful lounge where tea is served to Lords and their guests.

We were served with three pots of English breakfast tea, three plates of splendid finger/bridge sandwiches and a scone and individual pots of strawberry jam and clotted cream. It was a blast from a glorious past and just how things should be done.

I spotted my Winchester MP, Danny Chambers, who defeated the Conservative candidate Flick Drummond, the incumbent MP for the now-abolished seat of Meon Valley. She was selected to replace Steve Brine in Winchester who had stepped out of Parliamentary politics. She was easily defeated by the Liberal Democrats' Danny Chambers.

Charles, John and I became very close friends in the NUS. Charles was president, I was his Deputy and John was Chair of NUS Scotland. We were all of the broad left - Charles was Labour, John a Communist, and although I was not a member of any party, I aligned to the left as we said. John departed the CP and joined Labour, both rising to high office, either could have made a great PM.

Charles had worked for Kinnock when he was shadow education secretary then became Chief of Staff. I don’t know if Neil would have been a great PM but he was certainly a great Labour Leader and had the guts to call out the hard left, who were busy poisoning what was left of Labour after the debacle of Micheal Foot.

Both men became close allies of Blair and were instrumental in the creation of a ‘new’ electable Labour Party and Blair’s decade of power. Charles once asked me if I regretted not having become an MP, an ambition we’d shared as student leaders. I said yes but he said as a senior TV journalist I'd had as much, if not more influence than many junior MPs because I was of that group who helped set the agenda and select whose voices were heard.

Charles said Wes Streeting had impressed him and, like him, was a former President of both Cambridge University Student Union and the NUS… I said I thought he'd missed a trick not getting reforms in exchange for generous pay deals and a super boost to day-by-day NHS spending. Both were warmer to Rachel Reeves and her Budget than me.

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Charles said winter fuel allowance could have been retained and dealt with through the income tax code and scales. I said Jonathan Reynolds at Industry had impressed me, but the closure of Vauxhall’s factory at Luton would be an acid test of his metal.

I suggested Labour were lucky in a weak and unfocused opposition. Charles and I agreed at length that Reform UK was the danger for Labour and the Tories… Charles was very pro-John Healey at Defence; they'd shared a room years ago in the Commons and remained close friends. Reid and I agreed a mini-defence review decommissioning a few ships and helicopters was short-sighted ahead of a promised major defence and intelligence static review.

The two men had a fascinating exchange on the merits and demerits of the two mighty aircraft carriers. They roared with laughter remembering how Scottish Chancellor Gordon Brown had insisted on a Scottish building programme… they both mourned John Prescott although they disagreed with him on almost everything.

John’s Communism has always intrigued me, but for a working-class Glaswegian lad, it was by no means unusual. I once asked the former Chief of the Defence Staff Field Marshal Lord Peter Inge at dinner at the Tower of London when he was Commandant: "Who was the best Defence Secretary you worked with?" Without hesitation, he said: “John Reid.”

Never a soldier but John joined the TA to get mud under his nails and cordite in his nostrils. Peter also said: “It's always good to have someone on your side who used to be on the other side.”

We finished tea and Baroness Gillian Shepherd, a former Tory Minister, came over to say hello, it is that kind of place. Charles knew her well from his days as a Norwich MP. John just seemed to like her, and there was much banter about her constituency successor Liz Truss…

On the way out I passed Zac Goldsmith, a delightful man and a friend, and the brilliant Lord Robert Winston. I also saw Baroness Clair Fox, and chatted. We know each other well from GB News. It strikes me that a Parliamentary chamber with space for both Fox and Goldsmith is a good place and I suspect serves us better than other options under consideration.

Last night Fred, Oscar, their partners and children came for kedgeree and ice cream. It was a total joy. They all make me laugh and keep me happy and Jim and Tommy play wonderfully together. I can hardly remember a time without them but that’s dementia for you…

We also did another interview for Alzheimer’s Research UK, which will be in the Telegraph this weekend. We have been chosen as one of the recipient charities for their Christmas appeal, which is potentially very valuable.

We are so pleased to support them.