***

Shortly after his election it became known that the newly-elected Respect MP for Bradford West, George Galloway, was on to his fourth wife. He was right to wait until after the election to reopen discussion of his complex emotional life. Galloway long ago ditched his childhood Soviet sweetheart for the attentions of luscious Saddam. Then he hooked up with the younger Assad, before the mullahs managed to pass off their protégé Ahmadinejad onto him. The voters of Bradford West would be unwise to expect much of his remaining attentions.

***

The Boat Race is one of those things which it is pleasant to know goes on even if you take no interest in it. So I was shocked to hear that a race I wasn't aware was happening had been disrupted by a hooligan from the London School of Economics. The grin on the saboteur's horrible face as he was pulled from the water made me sorry that he had not been brained by the combined varsity oars.

People who say they dislike "elitism" — as he did — are ignoramuses. Sport is all about elitism. Nobody cares who comes second in a race, let alone who comes at the very back or is so anti-elitist that they don't run at all. Yet "elite" has entered that list of terms, currently including "prejudice", "discernment" and "judgment", that carry only pejorative connotations.

Elites are vital. They are only bad if a capable person who wishes to get into one is barred from doing so for some other reason than ability (background, colour and so on). Part of one's acceptance of life includes acknowledging elites to which one will not gain access. Just as I accept that I will not form part of Britain's Olympic team, I know I will never join the elite ranks of the diplomatic service or the special elite of the left-wing press.

***

I have just arrived in Beijing, marvelling at the electronic slogans which dominate Tiananmen Square. "Long Live Socialism" reads one. Unlike many other signs in the city, this is not one that is published in English.