NOW is the winter of our discontent is it just me, or do I detect the political winds are starting to change direction?

Unlike the Thatcher and Major years which preceded it, the New Labour era has been conspicuously lacking in dissent. At times, it seemed as if even the sight of Tony Blair eating a raw baby on the steps of No 10 Downing Street would barely cause a ripple among the chattering classes, let alone the proles.

It's that Brown man, you see. He chickened out of calling an election, refused to have a referendum about the validity of Britain's real rulers in Brussels, and starts to blush and stammer every time David Cameron has a pop in the Commons.

Quite, suddenly, the nation appears to be rousing from its torpor. Why, even good old Worcester has its very own anti-ID card lobby group - Foxy Foster may think he's given them the slip, but as he will be defending a majority slightly over 3,000 at the next election, he's needs to become very, very careful from now on.

Anyway, the natives would appear to be revolting, albeit fairly slowly - and that's why I have this feeling that the times really could be a-changing.