Allegra Stratton
Robert Fisk

The one about Allegra Stratton and sandwiches

Or #journalism

Flicking through a comic book in a store in Maryland years ago I remember one strip very vividly.

It ended with a simple message “No-one gives a fuck about your dreams.”

A fairly old man in a brown and white jumper has his arms folded as he sleeps soundly
Recently I’ve been having some very vivid dreams. I wonder what this man is dreaming about (“Asleep on the Job” by Alex E. Proimos is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0)
Two women and a man are sleeping on what seems to be the roof of a car park - well, the women are but the man is looking directly at the camera
This could be a very real dream sequence (“You are asleep.” by *Seth is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

This is true and it would be better for me to follow this message and write about an American TV show or the Superbowl to attract a wider audience to this episode of Fiskal Policy.

But after a conversation with my boss that went better than expected I’ve decided to write about two of my recent dreams.

She actually told me to plot out what I want to achieve in five years time and then assess how to get there but that’s for another day.

This time I’m appealing to any psychoanalysts out there to tell me what these dreams mean.

Allegra Stratton
Pictured in happier times when she was Newsnight political editor (because I could not find any recent ones from her time in Westminster without having to pay lots to picture agencies) Allegra Stratton is the only one to have resigned over Downing Street parties and she said she wasn’t at a party (“Allegra Stratton, Newsnight Political Editor, interviewing David Blunkett at Policy Exchange” by Policy Exchange is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Allegra Stratton resigned from her job back in December

I, like some people but probably not most people, spend a lot of time wondering what Allegra Stratton will do next.

As discussed in a recent episode of Fiskal Policy, someone should have resigned for what happened in Downing Street but it shouldn’t have been here.

Anyhoo, the other night I dreamt I was walking past a house and there were a lot of police officers outside and an old couple walked out of the front door as I approached.

The coppers let me in after the woman inside recognised me as “Robert from the papers” and I went in to find Allegra sitting at a big country kitchen style table.

Entitled Glaswegian dream sequence the picture shows a blurry vision of going down an escalator
The photographer calls this a Glaswegian dream sequence and this is why it appears here in this episode of Fiskal Policy (“220911_ Glaswegian Dream Sequence 04″ by Headphonaught is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0“
A dog sleeps soundly while a group of men in high vis jackets and caps look on
Do you think this dog is dreaming about political book tours? “Sleeping Dogs” by OneEighteen is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

We sat for what seemed like hours and talked through her plan for the future.

She proudly announced “Book tour” and explained it would be going right from the uppermost tip of Scotland down to the bottom of England – a route she said she had never done before.

After her emotional speech outside her house back in December it was good to see her happy again.

She gave me an exclusive look at a couple of the pages from the book and in the dream I took a photo of one of the paragraphs and sent it to a friend WhatsApp group because it referred to “hot chatio”.

The outside of The Luncheonette take away is very inviting with the traditional Italian flag colours of green, white and red
If you walk past The Luncheonette and go to Pret then something has gone wrong with your life (Picture from Google Maps)
An internal shot from The Luncheonette taken back in 2018. Without the usual mass of people inside the massive menu is visible
An internal shot from The Luncheonette taken back in 2018. Without the usual mass of people inside the massive menu is visible (Picture from The Luncheonette on Google)

What does this mean apart from missing the days on the political beat and remembering a day in my new job where Allegra walked past and said she was a big fan of my organisation’s work?

Also in the days of my political journalism career were London’s best hot sandwiches at Luncheonette near London Bridge Station.

For a lot less than you’d think you could get a massive sandwich and a can of drink and some crisps.

But, after walking past the place in real life on Thursday night and seeing a poster for pizza in the window I was concerned about my number five sandwich, it wasn’t like that in my dream.

Hay's Galleria near London Bridge station
Hay’s Galleria near London Bridge station is a great place to eat your purchases from The Luncheonette (“The Hays Galleria, London (1 of 1)” by Nillllll is licensed under CC BY 2.0)
Light pours through a gap in the window as a woman watches their partner sleeping
Light pours through a gap in the window as a woman watches their partner sleeping (“Looking at you sleeping” by kT LindSAy is licensed under CC BY 2.0)

I dreamt I took my mum there before some kind of activity after bigging up the sandwiches for ages and it was all a bit different.

Instead of the very reasonable real life deal in the dream my sandwich meal combo cost £5.70 and they didn’t have the drink I wanted.

It’s not the kind of political analysis you would expect from such an esteemed blogger as myself (I’m joking – obvs) but let me know if you can analyse my dreams for me.

Stay safe for another week!