Cocktails in purgatory
Sir: My old friend Taki says (High life, 30 August) that the French ambassador who was sacked because he described Israel as a ‘s****y little country’ is now ‘giving cocktail parties in Algiers or somewhere as depressing’.
Well, maybe. Daniel Bernard — for that was his name — is in fact dead. After he was outed as an alleged anti-Semite — his unguarded and reckless remark was made in 2001 at a party given for Boris Johnson by Conrad Black — he was shipped out to Algeria, where he died in 2004.
He was a delightful man, funny and selfdeprecating. Once, at a Spectator lunch of rare and gristly roast beef, he saw off a table of Eurosceptics with his charm and gentle mockery.
If Daniel Bernard is indeed in a place as depressing as Algiers, those who have been praying for the repose of his soul will be much cheered. At least he has made it to purgatory. Stuart Reid
London SW12
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