A tizz about fizz

摘要

Even by British standards, it has been a busy few weeks for observers of class warfare. On November 27th a former Conservative minister lost a libel action against a newspaper that said he had called a policeman at 10 Downing Street a "pleb". A few days before, another was recorded calling a taxi driver a "smart-arsed little git" and telling him to get a better education. But these incidents pale beside the tale of the peers' champagne. On December 2nd, at what otherwise might have been a dull committee meeting, Sir Malcolm Jack, a former clerk of the Commons, was asked why the catering services of the House of Lords, the upper house, and the House of Commons could not have been merged to save money. He replied: "The lords feared that the quality of champagne would not be as good if they chose a joint service." The astonished chair of the committee, Jack Straw, spoke for most of the nation as he gasped: "Did you make that up?" Sir Malcolm assured him he did not.