BAUBLES. They’ve been on my mind a lot this week.

Along with PVA glue, which has mostly been on my fingers and sleeves, reviving gloriously gooey memories of primary school ‘cutting and sticking’ sessions.

This year I’m channelling my inner Kirstie Allsopp and trying to emulate her Homemade Christmas.

And yep, I finally found a use for some of those scraps of boot-sale fabric that failed to make the grade as wedding bunting on the grounds that their patterns were simply too hideous to be viewed in their entirety. Snipped into tiny strips with my pinking shears, they’re unrecognisable. In a good way.

Pasted, papier-mache style, over some boring and well-worn silver baubles that we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to throw out, they look remarkably fetching dangling from the twiddly bits of a lamp stand next to the twinkling tree.

And a few loose edges only add to their charm. Or so I tell myself. I can always smother them with a more glue. That’ll sort them out. How up-to-the-minute am I, with my thrifty, upcycled, environmentally-friendly decorations!

And how glad am I that after various deeply disappointing visits to the world of handicrafts (regular readers may recall my long-suffering husband’s hand-knitted Aran sweater) I persuaded myself to go there one more time.

Even if it was only because I found a project on the internet described as “suitable for children”. “Well,” I thought, “even I should be able to do that!”

Meanwhile the talented Mr Riddle has been crafting twiggy stars and making a wreath, so it’s all starting to look lovely.

And it’s filled me with such seasonal goodwill that I barely raised an eyebrow on reading that our police are reduced to ‘inviting’ petty criminals to accompany them to the station, as if to a Christmas party, rather than arresting them.

I wonder what happens if some miscreant replies, ever so politely: “No thanks, I’ve got a previous engagement.”

Joking aside, let’s concentrate on the good news - the roll-out of ‘restorative justice’ training across Wiltshire, enabling officers to bring victims and perpetrators face to face, where both are willing.

It requires courage from both parties. But I’m sure that actively promoting greater understanding of the other side’s point of view is crucial to preventing further crime, helping victims to come to terms with what has happened to them, and reintegrating offenders into society.

I do understand absolutely that at the same time, the force is obliged to spend £700,000 on investigating whether an ex-Prime Minister who’s been dead for 11 years was a paedophile.

Just in case he was. In which case I suppose he might have been in cahoots with others, still alive, who could be brought to justice.

However, I do hope that if anyone is found to have made false allegations against someone who can no longer defend his good name, they will be pursued with equal vigour on behalf of the taxpaying public.

anneriddle36@gmail.com