Diary – 5 January 2008

My daughter has just got married and a beautiful and lively event it was, moving from her local church in St James’s Gardens to the Dorchester via Routemaster buses. I took the opportunity in my speech to thank many for their efforts to be present but reserved my principal praise not for those who had journeyed from Australia, America and South Africa, but for those who had travelled just a few miles from other parts of London. When you have flogged through hideous traffic at the end of another ghastly working day to attend a wedding in your home town it is always extremely annoying to sit through praise showered upon those from foreign parts who are having a terrific holiday, away from everyday pressures, with a lavish wedding and numerous other social freebies thrown in. I hope my words redressed the balance on behalf of all those who endured the hell of a journey from one postal district to another rather than the thrill of flying from one continent to another.

I was determined not to give guests the opportunity to reject the food on offer, at least before they got there. It is quite extraordinary how hosts now seem to be required to cater for every dietary whim of those they are generously entertaining. If you are not prepared to take a chance on the nosh offending your health, environmental or religious quirks, then don’t come, or at least be quite happy to push the obnoxious items to the side of your plate and chew bread or your napkin. Whenever I get a form asking for my dietary requirements I always put ‘large helpings’, which request is unfortunately (but quite correctly) rarely acted upon.

It was quite something for me to sing with Eva and her beau Pete at the party.