As this is my last blog of 2016, I thought I would set aside the serious stuff about writing and say a little about this last year. This will be short, because the latest addition to the Swinfen family, a golden cocker spaniel puppy, eight-week-old Suki, is taking up quite a lot of time at the moment. Here she is, arriving after a two-hour car journey from the west of Scotland, during which she behaved impeccably: