Exhausted by concern over the G8 Summit, I thought I would take a break in the Gleneagles Hotel, where the great event is to be held. Sadly, the hotel was unable to offer me accommodation between July 3 and 9, but I could make a reservation for the 10th. Nice range of choice, too — all the way from a ‘Classic Double’ (soon to be known as a Blair-Brown) @ £340 per night for B&B, to the Royal Lochnagar Suite @£1600 per night. I’m sure all those poor folks in Africa will be touched by the thought of the Lords of the Universe communing on their behalf in such modest surroundings.

My good friend, the late Charles Alan Wright, used to stay at Gleneagles — in a suite. I knew Charlie was rich (he was Richard Nixon’s lawyer for a time), but I didn’t know he was that rich.