Dearest Gentle Reader, this Friday brings a revenge served in black silk, a parliamentary vote that has reduced this Author to uncharacteristic solemnity, and a guilty plea twenty-eight years in the making - all of which together suggest that justice, like fashion, operates entirely on its own schedule. There is also the small matter of nineteen families in the West Midlands living from their car boots, which quite puts the ton's usual complaints into perspective. Your lorgnette is required.