Obiter confesses to enjoying a glass or three of the hard stuff at this time of year, so he’s not going to get sanctimonious over revelations that the Attorney General’s office has spent a whopping £102.35 of taxpayers’ money on alcoholic drinks so far in 2008.

He’s intrigued by the detail, however, in monthly figures given to Parliament in reply to a question from Conservative MP Greg Hands. We can understand why you may need to lash out £90.45 in January, but what happened in August to make the office forswear months of sobriety with an £11.90 binge? Did the departmental bottle of gin run out?

We can’t quite see Baroness Scotland nipping down to Tesco for 39 cans of own-brand lager.