They're Called Virgin Trains Because They Don't

Life Was So Much Simpler In Pre-video Days When Everyone Refused Invitations Because The 'forsyte Saga' Was On. Now We All Just Have A Long List Of Unwatched Shows, All Of Which, It Seems, Our Friends Are Raving About. I Feel As Outdated As If I Wore A Fair Isle Sweater, Ate Pot Noodle And Had A Two-bar Electric Fire In The Sitting Room.

The Chinese Do Make Vast Quantities Of Wine For Home Consumption, But You Wouldn't Want To Drink It Yourself.

The British Are The Last National Group Who Can Be Insulted By Hollywood Without Any Comeback. These Days If You Depict Italians As Gangsters, Saudis As Terrorists Or Mexicans As Violent Drug Dealers You'll Never Hear The End Of It. But As Still The Largest - And Possibly The Richest - Ethnic Group In The States, The British Just Have To Take It.

Curiously, It Is Hard Not To Be A Little Optimistic About The Future For Zimbabwe (as Nobody At All Calls It Yet, Except In Political Speeches). The Fear Is Not That There Will Be Mass Slaughter Of The Whites, Followed By Their Flight To South Africa And The Collapse Of The Economy, But That The Need To Retain White Confidence May Mean That The Blacks Are Badly Disappointed.

In Washington, Success Is Just A Training Course For Failure.