Peter Rhodes: Frank words from Evan

OKAY, I admit it. Today I am not totally focused on the job. We are off to Devon tomorrow for our annual week of total immersion in Beer. Oh, frabjous day. Farewell, politics. I am thinking mostly of cream teas and fishing lures.

NOW the General Election is over you can bet that thousands of the We Woz Robbed tendency will be blaming everything on bias in the media. If' you're thinking of complaining to the BBC, save your breath.

INSTEAD, heed these words from the BBC presenter Evan Davis on how much attention the Beeb pays to the thousands of emails and letters it receives accusing it of political bias. Speaking at the Hay Festival a few days ago, Davis declared: “All the time we get those. And honestly, no one at the BBC takes those kinds of things into account. Maybe people at the very top of the BBC do, I don’t know. Maybe they do. But none of the people who are making programmes do.” Thanks for being so honest, Mr Davis. Now, can I have my £147 back?

I WROTE a couple of days ago about how medical advice and health tips are regarded as holy writ one minute and mediaeval gibberish the next. One of the oldest mantras among seekers of eternal life is “the whiter your bread, the sooner you're dead.” Researchers in Israel have just reported “no clinically significant differences” in trials of white bread versus artisan wholemeal sourdough bread. How long before white sugar is hailed as a health food?

MORE reports emerge of Joe Public fighting back against the London Bridge terrorists, and how heartening it is. It may seem a dangerous choice and is obviously madness if guns are being brandished. But these terrorists are not supermen. They can be defeated.

WHAT was lacking among those under attack in the London Bridge atrocity was any sense of cohesion or group loyalty. We have to get in the mindset where everyone out for the night is part of the same team, the team of civilised values and decency. We may not know each other but we must not let each other down. We outnumber the terrorists and we are not unarmed. A bar stool, traffic cone, beer glass, fire extinguisher or even a ballpoint pen can become lethal weapons in your hands. Even a small LED torch can temporarily blind an attacker. Rage, rage and make as much noise as you can. If these attacks become commonplace, the time will eventually come when a crowd refuses to be cowed, fights the attackers and disarms them. And at that stage the would-be killers had better pray that the cops arrive pretty damn quick.

REALITY check, please. Doing better than expected is not the same as winning. And as the air-punching dies down among Labour activists today, the truth will dawn. The Conservatives have won this General Election and Labour has lost it. Despite seven years of Tory-led governments, years of Tory austerity and despite offering millions of students what amounts to a £40,000 gift each, Labour has failed to dislodge the Tories. The Conservative Party may be wounded but it is still in power because, despite the sudden appeal of Jeremy and his Magic Money Tree, Tory candidates won more seats and more votes than Labour. Corbyn may have delivered Labour from humiliation. But as Churchill remarked after Dunkirk: “We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory.” And while Corbyn may have done well, old animosities linger. There will be some in the Labour Party today wondering whether another leader might have done even better.