15 DECEMBER 1990, Page 29

Tale of a tub

JOHN Wakeham's great electric bran tub is ending in self-parody. Everybody gets a prize, almost everybody gets the same prize, an instant gain which can be turned into cash — but, by the time it has had to pay for bank charges and interest and dealing costs, may or may not leave enough to buy a round of drinks. Life was simpler in the Eatanswill days, when the politicians cut out the middlemen and paid for the drinks themselves. All that the bran tub needed (and got) was an official ninny to call it the most popular privatisation ever. Come on, Sarah, we can do better than this.