Parlour game
Sir: The outline of Auberon Waugh's political sex extravaganza (19 June) provides enthralling reading but unfortunately has the demerit of being a closed book and therefore of providing no interesting speculation as to future developments.
On the other hand there is a fascinating parlour game currently being played in observant circles called 'Spot the next political Victim'—which could go on indefinitely if the threat from abroad to take over our fourth estate completely actually materialises.
Candidates for 'treatment' must be politicians of the first rank who possess the ability to rise further in the future. They must be either anti-Common Market or so lukewarm to the idea of government from Brussels as to be suspect of conversion to the 'anti' cause.
If may be necessary, in urgent cases, to dredge up past tragedies—of which the public has long had its fill and which have only the most tenuous and oblique connection with the intended victim—in order to stem the ever-rising esteem with which he is regarded by the public. Indeed the more popular he becomes the more he is in danger of scurrilous attack.
Or maybe an offender scores so irritating a success in the very fountainhead of Euro-fanaticism that instant retaliation is demanded—even if the only barb to hand is the expenditure of a sum of money abroad on cultural activities which normally does not even raise the eyebrows of any profligate local authority.
Or maybe an intended victim does not make obeisance sufficiently low and attired in fancy dress when a neighbouring head of state arrives in our midst, though the casual elegance with which he wore his usual attire (less brown suede shoes) somehow seemed more in keeping with the occasion, the place and the temperature. More brush-strokes are added by re-opening recent contests and discovering he is capable (perhaps) of discourtesy and four-letter words—while of course his opponent, much beloved by the pro-Market camp but by no one else, is naturally possessed only of sweetness and light (and wetiscence).
Who's for joining in this new game and spotting the next victim ?
G. Saunders 25 Onslow Square, London SW7
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