Memory Lane

The news that Peter Mandelson, the Lord-High-Everything-Else, has had medical attention to his prostate puts me irresistibly in mind of the late (and poisonous) Evelyn Waugh, who said, on hearing that Randolph Churchill had had a non-malignant growth removed: "It is a typical triumph of modern science to find the only bit of Randolph that is not malignant, and take it out".

Some years ago Tony Benn suffered a rare neurological complaint, now happily cured, that put him on crutches for a while. A House of Commons wag said: "This is the first time in medical history that they have called in a brain surgeon to treat a pain in the arse".