Suits you, sir

Initially it looked as though Lord Falconer would not cause the same sort of fuss at the Mansion House as Gordon Brown, who wears a lounge suit for his state-of-the-economy speech.

But at last week's Lord Mayor's judges dinner, the new Lord Chancellor wore evening dress.

Perhaps he enjoyed the irony of proposing radical ideas in traditional garb.

Lord Falconer's speech followed a robust criticism from the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, who was cross that new Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs had not consulted the bench before proposing wholesale changes.

Lord Falconer's passionate plea for modernity was met with only polite applause.

And there was rumbling discontent afterwards, proving that it doesn't matter what you wear, but what you say.