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Yes, I know I've been away a long time. Aren't I entitled to a break?

Actually I fear that I'm now blogging purely to myself as all the readers will have jumped ship, so here's hoping there's some meaningful human contact out there (or as meaningful as it can get on the web).

So what have I missed?

There's been more talk of the cuts ahead, some of them real, some of them speculative.

The Labour leadership contest is still meandering along apparently to eternity.

In fact, it's as if I haven't been away!

Apart from one particular story.

Just before I went on leave I wrote about the Penrith and the Border MP Rory Stewart.

My words in that blog: "The jury's still out on whether Rory Stewart can make the kind of impact he made outside parliament."

Within days he was making quite a big splash, but not the one he would have chosen.

I'm talking about what you could call "Twinegate" of course, with the new MP quoted talking about his constituents as "primitives" who tie up their trousers with twine!

Now, .

Not perhaps the best way to build a relationship with his Cumbrian constituents, particularly as he had no links with the county before becoming one of its MPs.

But knowing Cumbrians well, I suspect they soon got over any slight.

Actually, as someone who grew up there, I know Cumbrians can be far ruder about each other than Rory Stewart's apparent quotes.

When I was at school, people who came from the farming community were often known as "yakkas" - similar I suppose to the way hillbilly is used in the southern United States.

But actually that comparison also highlights what Rory Stewart was trying to get across with some rather ill-advised language.

I don't find it hard to imagine that there are still farmers in Cumbria who may use twine to hold up their trousers.

Rural Cumbria can look affluent at first glance, but hidden within it are pockets of severe poverty.

The area Rory Stewart represents has a lower average income than the rest of the county.

That's due to low farm incomes and poverty-level agricultural wages.

It's an area which does have serious problems - and not just the classic one of affordable housing.

Drug use is more widespread than you'd expect and suicide rates are higher than the national average, particularly amongst young men.

I think what Rory Stewart may regret is that headlines about twine and anecdotes about children being run down by tractors (apparently they don't bother with hospital treatment in Cumbria) obscured the point he was trying to make.

And that's a vital one in future months.

Communities like Penrith and the Border have to make a case that services cost more to deliver in rural areas, and that Cumbria therefore needs some cushioning from cuts.

I'm sure the area's MP will recover from his first brush with notoriety.

When I met him, I gained the impression he was genuinely enthused by the area, and had a real affection for Cumbrians.

So, instead I suspect his constituents are more likely to judge him by what he delivers for the area, rather than a few colourful quotes in a newspaper article.

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