One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words "Socialism" and "Communism" draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, "Nature Cure" quack, pacifist, and feminist in England.

So wrote George Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier.

You wouldn’t include “feminist” in a list like that today, but otherwise it still seems fair comment.

So I was amused to learn from this morning's From Our Home Correspondent that Richard Blair, Orwell's adopted son, lived with relatives at a Tolstoyan commune in Gloucestershire after Orwell's death.

Richard Blair has written about those days for The Orwell Society.

That segment starts at 13:00, but the whole thing is worth listening to. There is a sobering piece on diabetes and a very Edsmithian one by Ed Smith on cricket captaincy.