For the uninitiated Brio is the upmarket designer railway set

(For the uninitiated, Brio is the upmarket designer railway set.)The changing room for MPs’ babies does not even have a table, he says. Wilkes has inspected it, and he is right.Lord Goodman lives on in his wit and wisdom on the back of the menu card at one of the MPs’ handy watering holes at No 4 Millbank, the Atrium, formerly Rodin.The man-mountain, who was teetotal and never smoked, had an inflationary problem, which afflicts Wilkes. The quotation reads: “Every so often I lose weight and to my utter horror and indignation, I find in the quiet of night somebody has put it back onWilkes was studying the card when he spotted another habitue of Westminster with an inflationary problem, Simon Heffer, the amusing deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph. So acute is his sense of humour, he has acquired a plastic shopping bag to carry his things in.

It bears the emblem of the shop where he got it: Heffers.This could start a trend. I recall an old friend called Sainsbury who always bought his wine at the store of the same name, to raise a bit of doubt in the minds of the charming girls he had to supper that he just might be connected He wasn’t. Anyone know of a grocers called Wilkes?Wilkes is delighted to see that Oxbridge remains the principal training ground for our diplomats. Alistair Goodlad (King’s College Cambridge) informed me the other day that of the current ambassadors, deputy ambassadors and high commissioners, 63 went to Oxford, 55 to Cambridge, 12 to Scottish universities, three to universities in Wales, one to a Northern Ireland establishment and 84 to others. He did not say how many went to the university of life, but not many I warrant.Wilkes feels honour bound to set the record straight on Richard Ryder, the latest senior Tory to be tipped as the scapegoat for his party’s lamentable performance.The fact that the chief whip, Richard Ryder, is suffering from a bad back is well known around the tea rooms. He has courageously put up with the pain from a couple of slipped discs for several years, and made it clear to friends that when he does stand down, he does not want another ministry. Oddly, for a politician who had a reputation as a hell-raiser at university, he has the reputation of being a shy, retiring type.

His unfulfilled dream is to become an historian.But Ryder’s possible departure does raise the tricky question of who might be the new chief whip. David Davis, the much-canvassed possibility for the job, may be too valuable to prise out of his job as Mr IGC, though both William Hague, next prime minister but three, and, yes, Michael Forsyth have been mentioned.. Under present rules, Classic will have to bid again, and against new competition keen to try to inherit the market we have created.” Classic FM’s audience has reached a plateau of about 4. The successful station, now two and a half years into its eight-year franchise, is concerned its long-term future is threatened because of the terms under which any renewal will take place.There is no requirement under the 1990 Broadcasting Act for a Classic- style licence to be readvertised on the frequency since the Radio Authority has no requirement to insist on programme quality.John Spearman, the station’s chief executive, said: “There are no long- term guarantees for this remarkable British success. BY MAGGIE BROWN

Media Editor
Classic FM yesterday launched a campaign for changes in the way commercial radio licences are readvertised. The forum would have no legislative power, but would provide a nationally recognised base for independent long term planning.. Classic FM wants the radio franchises to be placed on a rolling basis, as will happen to the ITV franchises.The Radio Authority said it did not favour rolling contracts, preferring to readvertise, but would like more discretion, allowing incumbents to rengeotiate their cash bids, while protecting successful services.t Through the Keyhole, the TV show presented by Sir David Frost and Loyd Grossman is moving from ITV to Sky One..

Mr Terry’s idea is a classical fantasy deriving from the trust’s objective of having a 700-seat forum based on Delphi’s Tholos (“the conscience of the ancient world.”)Mr Berger has proposed to the Millennium Commission that the forum would hold residential debates at weekends involving experts and members of the public, some invited, some who would simply choose to come. The Prince of Wales has called it a “brave and exciting idea”.The trustees want to buy and convert a country house outside London, and Mr Berger has commissioned designs for the conversion from the former Royal Academy president Sir Hugh Casson and the architect Quinlan Terry. 5 million listeners weekly, with one in ten adults tuning in regularly.The call for a change is timed to influence the forthcoming Broadcasting Bill which has been promised for 1995-96. BY DAVID LISTER

A bid for pounds 50m to set up a national debating centre is being considered by the Millennium Commission.
The project is the brainchild of the National Forum Trust, whose trustees include religious leaders, politicians of all parties, academics and artists, and international figures including the former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev.The trust to establish a national forum for public debate, analysis and problem solving was founded in the Eighties by Hugh Berger, the founder of a charity for the unemployed, and his wife Margaret.They have attracted support of trustees including Lord Dahrendorf, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Richard Rogers, Rabbi Lionel Blue and the Archbishop of Wales. Without thinking about it, I found myself changing into trousers. Perhaps I’m not man enough to go to the builders’ merchants in a sarong, but I do live in south London. And where are you supposed to keep your wallet? A sporran might do the trick, but the couture clash would be horrendous.So will I persevere with the sarong? I think so, but I’ll have to find one so ugly that Ginny wouldn’t dream of wearing it, and keep it for hot days in the garden and holidays in the sun..