"Because you were giving, rather than taking?" the spirit suggested. McHunt ignored him.
"But it is better to give than to receive", the spirit urged.
McHunt looked at the happy faces around him, and felt a strange sensation in his chest. He held his hand to his breastbone.
"That's your heart", the spirit said kindly. "It has started to beat again".
The spirit then whisked him away to another scene. There were several people standing around in a studio, spotlights on their face and snarky interrogators pummelling them with questions.
"I don't want to see this", McHunt pleaded. "Please show me something else."
But the jeers continued from the audience as Hunt watched his younger self get buttonholed into a corner by the leading candidate Joris Bonson.
"You failed to give doctors a fair wage and people faith in their doctors", a heckler from the audience shouted.
"I get it", McHunt said, his face in his hands. "I need to give more and seek less of myself. I should have been nicer to all of you doctors. Please don't show me any more. Please, please"...
But his words were muffled by the folds of his blankets as he found himself once more in his bed. "Only a dream!" He said, and turned to go back to sleep.
Then the bell struck one.
The Ghost of Budgets Present
There was a warm glow coming from under the door. It wasn't his housekeeper trying to roast salad.
This was a different glow, a happy glow, the sort of glow not seen since the unauthorised parties of 2020, which the lawyers have instructed me to say absolutely did not happen.
McHunt crept towards the door and threw it open. There in the warmth of a log fire and the light of a joyous Christmas tree, sat a huge, jolly figure, all dressed in sequins.
"Oh please don't tell me you're the second spirit I was expecting."
"Of course I am", she bellowed gently. "Straight off Strictly", and the spirit of Jan Tiddicombe swooshed her sparkly red ballgown in the gloaming, sending echoes of tiny red lights dancing across the walls.
McHunt turned to leave but found the door locked; as he wheeled around to see what was behind him, he found himself in a large hall, where dozens of people with Santa hats were busy packing up parcels.
"What is this?" he asked.
"It's one of your great successes", the spirit yelled. "It's a food bank in your constituency, wrapping up toys for children and boxes of food for people who have fallen on hard times thanks to the continued cost of living crisis."
