How to drown your sorrows

Age. At the Spectator party last week, the editor asked me how long I had been attending the festivity. I could not remember whether it had been since the late 1970s or not until the early 1980s. But change is not always for the worse. During the 1980s, dearly beloved Bron Waugh was in charge of the wine. Talk about plonk. I do not know whether cats or horses were responsible, but there should have been no question of calling in a vet. The beasts ought to have been sent straight to a laboratory, to hunt down the toxicity.

These days, we are graced by supplies from Pol Roger. They not only make splendid champagne, they are also devoted Anglophiles. Their cuvée Winston Churchill is a great wine, fully worthy as a homage to a great man. He returned the compliment by naming one of his racehorses Pol Roger.