22 JANUARY 1994, Page 21

No, sir, don't mean maybe

IT IS the political question of the hour. I faced it at a club which had asked me to talk about the Government and the econo- my. To get things right on purpose, I said, is going to be harder. Any questions? 'Yes will the speaker tell us whether he has ever fathered an illegitimate child or spent the night in the same bed with another man?' Not at the same time, I said. I suppose I was lucky not to have to recommend a form of first aid for pancreatitis.