29 MARCH 1986, Page 22

God's audit

MAX Beerbohm laid it down that there could be no such boast as 'I dined last night with the Borgias' — who could have lived to make it? The same, clearly, goes for: q have just had coffee with my Italian bank- er.' How did Michele Sindona take his coffee? Macchiato — stained, normally with milk? Corretto — corrected, normally with brandy? To ask whether Sindona's poisoning was suicide or murder seems the wrong question. God's banker has been called in by his Client, for a long-overdue explanation of the state of His account. But how different how very different from the home life of our own dear Barclays.