:: "People had drunk a lot of Dom Perignon champagne and it was late..." ::

In true Hypatia style, I begin today's round-up with a pertinant quote from everyone's favourite gay Tory defector. After being deposed from the top job at my favourite cultural institution, "millionaire businessman" has, for the most part remained outside the media gaze. His quip was a justification for dashing off to buy a take-away curry whilst he and his moneyed guests awaited a gourmet feast prepared by Gordon Ramsay at a charity gala. I wonder how much of the "cod with cubed potatoes" went to waste as the ravenous hoorays chomped on greasy bhajis. And whilst I'm on the subject of wasting good food, I was astonished to read that the world's most expensive truffle (reported in November) rotted in its display cabinet and ended up inedible. For those with a more modest budget to blow on matters culinary, the Beeb reports it's now possible to take courses on making chocolate from scratch. Anyone at a loss for what to get for Christmas/my birthday would do well to investigate gift tokens from the lovely people at My Chocolate (not very subtle hint).

President Bush has signed an intelligence treaty - the usual snide jibes may have worn a little thin, but I'll never tire of picture editors' choices in this kind of news story. And the poisoning of Yushchenko has been confirmed: given the striking colour of his political party, it's bitterly ironic that the dioxin that nearly killed him is a key component of Agent Orange. Closer to home, my MP is back in the news again. How long before this silly woman is also unceremoniously ejected from the cabinet? I'm more than prepared to have her love-child if that's what it takes.

Things to do this weekend: buy a virtual island - not an original idea, but quite what that bloke (I presume it was) was smoking when he bought a piece of cyber-estate for $26500, I'll never know. Or you could track down self-confessed anglophile Christian Slater and swear at him: apparently he loves it. Mr Slater obviously doens't require a guide on how to survive Britain as he's already learnt what the word "wanker" means. He probably isn't complaining about Little Britain, either, which is a shame, because that's exactly what its creators want you to do.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.