Bonus post: Mr Anthony Weiner and the changing of the light.

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

I went outside just now and the light had changed. It's not just that the sun had finally decided to stay out, but that the quality of it had shifted. The winter sun here is a glorious but brittle thing; it diffuses and dazzles. What it does not do is bathe or gentle. (This is almost impossible to describe in language, so forgive me.) But this afternoon, for the first time, it has taken on the quality of spring light. It spread itself all over the trees like honey, and made the liberal promise of the end of winter.

There will of course be frosts and snow to come. We usually get a big snow at Easter. But this light is the first official sign that there is the hope of the new season. All I need now is for the oyster catchers to arrive, and that will be it.

Can you see how completely it has changed, not just from the last few months, but even from this morning? It feels like magic.

And talking of magic, the real reason I was going to do a bonus post is that I thought you ought to see the very splendid Representative Anthony Weiner defending the privacy of a woman's womb. I have loved Anthony Weiner for a long time. He is passionate, he is committed, he does not always use diplomatic language. He is, I think, on the side of the angels. And he makes the point which has been driving me nuts for weeks, which is: how can all those small government people talk about small government when they want the GOVERNMENT to go into the doctor's office with the women? Whatever the morality, it is intellectual dishonesty of the highest order.

It's six minutes, but it is worth watching the whole thing. Click here for the video.