Belt tightening time - except for politicians

Barely 24 hours after warning that the globabl food crisis meant people in Britain would have to cut down on the amount of food they ate, Gordon Brown sat down to an 18-course blowout in Japan (plus coffee and mints). Here's hoping he found the space - this was, after all, coming just a few hours after the five-course lunch set up for the leaders of the G8 countries at the summit in Hokkaido.

Doesn't it always seem to be the way? We're lectured on our eating habits by people looking forward to their next freebie banquet. We're lectured on climate change by people who've flown to conferences thousands of miles away in carbon-belching planes.

And of course, we're lectured on the parlous state of the economy by people who go on to vote themselves another hefty pay rise.

Is it too much to ask for to expect politicians to lead by example? I'm not expecting politicians to start shopping at Aldi and Primark..

But the 'let them eat cake' attitude just reinforces that the people who decide what happens in this country live in a completely different world to the people who feel the effects of their decisions. It's like Versailles or the last days of Rome.

And remember how those turned out?

Incidentally, here's that menu in full, taken from The Times:

Lunch

White asparagus and truffle soup

Kegani crab almond oil foam and green olive tapenade

Supreme of chicken served with stuffed thigh, nuts and orange savoury with beetroot foam

Special cheese selection with half-dried fruits

Peach compote, ice cream and raspberry coulis

Dinner

Corn-stuffed caviar

Smoked salmon and sea urchin "pain surprise" style

Hot onion tart

Winter lily bulb and summer savoury

Kelp-flavoured cold Kyoto beef "shabu-shabu", asparagus dressed with sesame cream

Diced fatty flesh of tuna fish, avocado and jellied soy sauce and Japanese herb "shiso"

Boiled clam, tomato, "shiso" in jellied clear soup of clam

Water shield and pickled conger dressed with vinegar soy sauce

Boiled prawn with jellied tosazu vinegar

Grilled eel rolled around burdock strip

Sweet potato

Fried and seasoned Goby with soy sauce and sugar

Hairy Crab "Kegani" bisque soup

Salt-grilled bighand thornyhead with vinegary water pepper sauce

Milk fed "shiranuka" lamb flavoured with aromatic herbs and mustard

Roasted lamb and cepes and black truffle with emulsion sauce of lamb's stock and pine seed oil

Special cheese selection, lavender honey and caramelised nuts

G8 fantasy dessert

Coffee served with candied fruits and vegetables

Wine list

Le Reve grand cru champagne

Japanese saki

Corton Charlemagne 2005

Chateau Latour burgundy

Ridge California Monte Bello 1997

Tokaji Essencia 1999 from Hungary