I am fortunate that one of my best friend's, Dr John Hawkins, now of Canberra, sends me his old Private Eye and Economist magazines. I could not afford a subscription to either and they are great travelling companions on my weekly sojourn to the city. I have been reading his kindly-sent packages for years now, in fact, going back to my time in Japan. Because of the cost of postage, John would sometimes bowdlerise the contents of the magazines to get the weight down, but they were still a delight to read.

There was an occasion in 2002 when I was sitting on a local train one evening on the return journey from Kaibara to Sanda, having just finished teaching English to classes at a nearby juku. I was thumbing through a Private Eye when I came to the section devoted to mocked-up headlines and stories, satirical pieces. I won't explain the details, but one of the articles centred on a plea by the Greek Government to the British Government not to gift them The Thatcher Marble, a bust-likeness of the lady herself. The story is referencing The Elgin Marbles and their rightful ownership but you can research that for yourself. Suffice to say, that I burst out laughing and found it very difficult to contain myself for the next ten minutes, not until the change of trains at Sasayama. The point is, people don't burst out laughing on Japanese trains and I was acutely conscious of the disproving glances. The magazine was quietly slipped back into my bag and a serious demeanour was worn for the remainder of the trip.

A couple of days ago I was reading a far more recent Private Eye on my trip to Central. I did not burst out laughing this time, but I think the following cartoon is very witty.