Booking the cooks
I SHALL MISS the Treasury's Christmas party this year. I missed it last year, but that was because of the previous incumbent, who had, understandably, weeded his list. This year his successor has called the whole thing off — sad, because it was something of a fixture, and an enjoyable evening if you remembered to have a stiff drink at the pub in Whitehall before going in to take on the mulled wine. I hope that its demise has nothing to with the dialogue now going with the Inland Revenue about the Trea- sury's catering facilities. A brave inspector of taxes appears to have questioned the self-employed status of some of the staff. I can easily see that this might lead to trouble in the kitchens, and a troubled kitchen makes for a livery Chancellor. Perhaps he and I should adjourn to the pub.
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