I was telephoned today by ITN and the BBC and asked to appear on various programmes and comment on what I thought of the internet based, post university, nerd who knows absolutely nothing about an MPs work and his campaign to ‘track MPs during the holiday’. I declined the offer. I just didn’t trust myself.

It really is worrying as to what degree the dead tree press manipulate the public and how as a result of their own cost cutting, they no longer print real stories but instead almost fabricate something to fill up a page.

‘MPs take 85 days holiday’ is one example. I don’t suppose the headline ‘MPs hammer the constituency work during the month of September’ is really eye catching enough, but is the truth ever as good as the fiction?

I am taking August off, as I do every year. The truth is that MPs of all parties work very hard on behalf of their constituencies and work very, very long hours in a stressful pressure cooker.

It’s easy to track the deteriorating health of MPs, easy to look at their faces and see how much they age and how quickly.

Would you ever see a newspaper headline ‘teachers take six weeks summer holiday? Never, because there are too many teachers who buy newspapers, not a good commercial move.

I will be away all of August, like I am every year and unlike every other year, this time I won’t be phoning the office twice a day as I have for the last four years. Those days are over. I’m taking a holiday. I need it, my family deserve it and I can’t wait.