IT's amazing what a line in Spectator's Notes can do. Following my piece last week about Mr William Hague's Christmas card, the artist responsible, Mackenzie Thorpe of Richmond, was quick to respond.

Readers may recall Spectator's passing reference to being a fan of the aforesaid Mr Thorpe and expressing a desire to one day owning an original Mackenzie Thorpe

The artist's own appreciative Christmas card arrived on Monday morning with an "original" drawing inside.

It is reproduced here, with great pride. It may not be one of Mr Thorpe's finest works but Spectator has titled it Two Men and Two Sheep and will lovingly store it for future auction at Christies in New York.

In 50 or so years, Spectator confidently predicts, simple Mackenzie Thorpe sketches will be fetching six figure sums.

Sad folk

T'WAS a sad and pathetic sight. Thousands of folk wandering around Darlington town centre on a mid-week lunchtime with the look of utter despair in their faces.

Like junkies missing their regular fix, these forlorn figures were clearly at a complete loss as to what to do.

Who is Spectator talking about? Who were these dejected creatures? Shoppers, that's who. Shoppers denied access to the shops less than two weeks before Christmas by a power cut which plunged the whole centre town centre into darkness over lunchtime.

Little did the hapless JCB driver responsible for cutting the electric cable supplying large parts of the town and the surrounding area know of the full and devastating effect his actions would have

No jingle tills, no twinkling lights, no bulging bags. The spirit of Christmas surely died for two hours in Darlington on Tuesday.