2002-04-19 - 8:42 p.m.

My favourite piece of graffiti in London goes like this: Someone has written "We are ruled by leaders that waste our lives" and under it, someone has responded, "Be your own leader, you feeble berk." Well, quite.

The word "berk" is deceptive - it's seemingly a pretty tame synonym for "idiot" that often makes it onto TV, but it originates as a derivative of the term "Berkshire Hunt", which is, of course, rhyming slang for a lady's front bottom.