Stephen Glenn goes over the sea to Ireland

At around now, assuming that he hasn't overslept, my friend and fellow West Lothian Lib Dem and blogger Stephen Glenn will be heading back to Northern Ireland for the next few months.

The next series of Strictly just won't be the same without him on the other sofa commenting on the attractiveness and attributes of the competitors technical qualities of the dancing.

Stephen has been a part of our lives now for 8 years and we will really miss him. So will the Scottish Liberal Democrats for all the work he's done and the hundreds of thousands of leaflets he's delivered, very often putting the party above his own health. He's worked in Linlithgow and East Falkirk, Falkirk, Livingston (during the by-election especially), Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh North and Leith. Much of our friendship has been punctuated by me driving him to various parts of the country, giving him a large bag of leaflets and refusing to take him home until he's delivered them.

Anna gets on really well with him. One day last year when I was ill, he spent 3 hours keeping her amused while I slept. When I got up, they had not only created a whole new country, but written down its laws and drawn a picture of it. He's inspired her inner geek and encouraged her to read Hitchhiker.

Of course we'll keep in touch by electronic means - and the friendly rivalry between us as bloggers will continue, but we'll all miss having him around.

So, Stephen, good luck in this new phase of your life and, as they say, haste ye back.