Ever since I registered with a number of local estate agents as part of my property search last year, I have received a daily stream of emails giving details of enticing Cotswold homes.

As I have already found the cottage of my dreams, with a babbling brook at the bottom of the garden, cornflowers and poppies peeping over the dry-stone wall at the front and a view of rolling hills, I take a purely academic interest in the details contained within.

But one feature of these emails has struck me very powerfully – almost without fail, they contain the word ‘Reduced’ in the subject box.

The Cotswolds may be a tourist hotspot thanks to its idyllic countryside and attractions such as the Daylesford Farm Shop and Jeremy Clarkson’s farm, Diddly Squat. But even this little slice of heaven is reeling under the impact of an amateurish and destructive Labour Government in turmoil.

As someone who has owned property in the area since 1987, I can testify that this is absolutely a first. The only time the Cotswolds came close feeling the cold wind of economic instability was at the time of the financial crash in 2008.

But while the rest of the country took some time to dust itself off and get back on its feet, the housing market in the Cotswolds soon recovered. In the years that followed, we became known for an influx of celebrities.

David and Victoria Beckham led the charge in 2016 when they bought a £6 million converted barn in the area. Three years later they were joined by the multi-millionaire DJ Calvin Harris, who – after originally acquiring a ten-acre estate – bought up almost an entire corner of a local village, much to the delight of the local youth.

Only last year, Beyonce and Jay-Z were spotted in my local garden centre, mooching around just like any other shopper, perusing pots of lavender, in advance of buying a property of their own in the locale. Is it any wonder that my village green is often visited by influencers pouting into their mobile phones?

But now a serpent has entered our paradise in the shape of the cost-of-living crisis. A friend who told me she wouldn’t sell her property for anything less than £3 million, eventually found a buyer who offered a figure beginning with a one.

A property that was sold unseen during the Covid pandemic has just gone back on the market for half the price it was bought for – and that’s despite undergoing a six-month programme of renovations.

A friend who owns an independent shop in a popular local market town tells me that business is much quieter this year, something she attributes to day-trippers being deterred from making the trip by the cost of fuel. She may have a point.

Tradesmen tell me more customers are either not responding to quotes for work or cutting back on the scale of their jobs.

I am on a number of local WhatsApp groups which are full of people offering to rent out their properties at a discount rate after suffering last-minute cancellations on Airbnb. Even those influencers who once posted glowing Instagram posts from Cotswold beauty spots have now changed their tune and are complaining about the cost, the lack of attractions and the traffic.

A government in chaos, stubbornly high inflation, the possibility of that Net Zero zealot, Ed Miliband, as our next Chancellor – not to mention the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz – mean we cannot expect respite any time soon.

If we are feeling it here amid the glitz and glamour of the Cotswolds, it must be so much worse in less blessed parts of the country.

The only way to reverse the slump is to have a General Election and offer people some hope that there could be a better way.

Could it be karma for Sir Keir?

You would have to be totally heartless not to have felt some degree of pity for Keir Starmer as he struggled not to break down standing at the podium outside No 10 yesterday.

They all cry. Or at the very least, a catch in the throat interrupts their flow. Then there’s a deep breath as they try to hold it together.

It’s almost as if, as they stand alone in front of a phalanx of cameramen and photographers, the reality of their situation suddenly hits them. It’s a profound moment of failure and humiliation.

And they know that the speech they are about to deliver is one of the most important of their political careers. Even Margaret Thatcher, the so-called the Iron Lady, fought back tears as she delivered her final address in front of the famous black door and was openly weeping by the time she got into the back seat of her car.

I was Culture Secretary when Boris Johnson resigned the premiership in 2022. I spent time with him at Downing Street the night he made the decision to go, and before he made his final speech on the steps of No 10, so I know just what an emotional wrench it is to leave the top job.

There were no tears from him as he made his farewell speech.

It could be argued that Starmer, who hounded Boris out of office, deserves what has befallen him. He is the shortest-serving Labour Prime Minister of all time, with a tenure of just under two years, while Boris served more than a year longer.

Sometimes, karma truly is brutal.

I'm just loving Love Island 

I’m being forced to watch the latest series of Love Island by my daughters.

Readers will know that this is not the first time I’ve dipped into the ITV show.

When I first watched it, I was expecting it to be quite risqué but, apart from the skimpy bikinis like Yasmin Hadlow’s (above), it’s quite wholesome. There is an inordinate amount of serious discussion about kissing, for example. And many of them clearly have no idea how to apply lipstick, as it appears to cover half of their faces.

The men have too many tattoos and no brains, apart from Lorenzo Alessi, who will be the male winner.

You’re welcome.

A big win for Doku

A French TV journalist has been taken off air after criticising one of Belgium’s World Cup players, Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku, for announcing that he will fly home for the birth of his first child even if his team makes the knockout stages.

His partner Shireen is due in the second week in July.

France Pierron, who called Doku’s decision ‘disgusting’, defended her comments by saying: ‘He is going to waste ten hours, he will be exhausted and have an emotional meltdown. Your baby will always be there.’

If there is one thing I can guarantee, it is that Doku will not be talking about the World Cup a year from now. He will, however, remember the moment his firstborn made his or her way into the world for the rest of his life.

Fly home, Jeremy, I mean, it’s not like Belgium are going to win, is it? And catching that baby when it pops out will feel like your biggest victory.