SEMIOTICS

Chirac's peace gift, with hopes of a lasting aftertaste (Paul Waugh and John Lichfield, 07 May 2003, Independent)

Much like Tony Blair, it travels well, is surprisingly fruity and improves with age. But when a half-case of 1989 Chateau Mouton Rothschild was sent to the Prime Minister by Jacques Chirac yesterday for his 50th birthday, it became clear that this was the perfect Gallic revenge.

Six bottles of claret may seem a generous peace offering, but the rules mean that any gift worth more than E140 has to be bought with a minister's own money - so Mr Blair will have to pay E900 for the privilege of accepting them. The accompanying note was typically pointed. "Dear Tony," it read, "Knowing how much you love to visit France, I have pleasure in offering you a present which represents the qualities of the produce of the soil of our country, which you know so well."

Yes, sour grapes, housed in glass, though, we'd note, someone had sense enough to put a cork in the claret. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 7, 2003 6:01 PM