Quaffing a socialist beverage is very worrying, especially when complemented by the RED glaze in his eyes.

Fair enough, but what _should_ a fashion-conscious Right Wing Death Beast drink? Pangalactic Gargle Blasters? Pints o' scumble? Irish whiskey by the neck? Iraqi panther-piss liberated from a backyard stillhouse in Fallujah? Wannabe RWDBs around the world need to know this sort of thing, dammit. That's why we read Samizdata.

I prefer this myself, although it's Belgian, so that might not be ideologically ideal either.

Oh no!! I didn't know drinking Chardonnay was socialist! What to do? Is Chablis OK, or is that socialist, too? Why do the socialists have all the best drinks?

Assuming it is Chablis that actually comes from Chablis in northern Burgundy rather than wine that comes from somewhere else that uses the same name, then you are talking about French Chardonnay. That makes it even worse, I fear.

Thank goodness beer is not particularly political.

Michael Jennings Worse! Oh, no! Obviously, living in France, I only have access to French wine! It is not my fault! I do drink Scotch whisky, though, if that's OK - although I suspect that Scottish socialists drink nothing else. It probably comes out of the taps in their £500m Parliamentary boondoggle.

Is nothing safe? What do normal people drink?

"Is nothing safe?..."

Jack Daniels and a proper English ale like Bombardier, preferably simultaneously.

Scott - but I hate Jack Daniels (sorry, all) and I don't even know if it's available here. I also drink cheap French "champagne" as a kir royale, but this is probaby equally unacceptable as even the Creme de Cassis is French. Oh, god, I've been living in drinking hell and I didn't even know it!

Non-socialist suggestions gratefully accepted and explored.

I know this is supposed to be a joke, but really, isn't wine older than socialism?

Anthony - You sound like great fun at a party.

"Isn't wine older than socialism?" So's sex. And? Your point?

Oh, dear. What's next, Tim? Quiche?

Oh, dear. What's next, Tim? Quiche?

Not exactly. Bacon & Egg Pie(Link), a traditional Australian workingman's breakfast. You got a problem with that?

I like chardonnay and the cheese which dares not speak it's name after a hard day at the shooting range, and it has been quite a while since anyone suggested I'm a socialist.

Doing so lets one blend in with the lefties as though one of their own, and that leaves them all the more confused when one exclaims with a great good hearted smile "Of course I shoot machineguns! I know a couple teenage girls who love to take their boyfriends shooting them. Machineguns are a blast! "

One must be sure to keep a relentlessly upbeat manner, of course. "Would you like some more brie?"

I'm most shocked that a RWDB like our estemed Mr. Blair would drink Chardonay. Why, I thought he'd have been carrying around a jug of Liquid Banjo . I, for one, think a de-linking campaign is in order.

Tom Bosworth - "The cheese which dare not speak its name." Ha ha!

I thought Blair barely drank at all, which is another one of his problems. He's a sententious little prig. Still, wine helps prevent heart attacks, so keep up the good TT work, Tone!

Patrick Banks - I went to the link, but it wasn't funny.

Anyway, if Tony Blair drinks the oh-so-occasional glass of Chardonnay, that's me off Chardonay for life. Actually, my local village epicerie sells giant bottles of locally produced vin rosé for £1.40. And you even get your deposit back on the bottle!

Onya Tim! We'll make a socialist cliche out of you yet...

Personally, I dislike a lot of chardonnay wine because the cheaper stuff tends to have a bouquet like cheap perfume, although the finest, such as Bergundy-region ones, are magnificent, but expensive.

Of course if anyone wants to buy me a case of Chassagne Montrachet, I can supply my home address!

All right. I've had enough. The outrageous desecration of Chablis by Michael and Verity is enough to call for another 100 years war.

If there is one, just one little thing that I would save - when should France sink like Atlantis supposedly did - this is precisely the few square miles constituting the vineyard of Chablis.

No matter what perfidious and fiendish Anglo-Saxons may think. And your mother was a hamster, in case you forgot. Ah!

Guy de Lombard.

Dissident - Pas juste, quoi! Where did I say I didn't like Chablis? I asked if it was OK to drink it in a non-socialist context. That was all. I am seeking advice on political drinking. I am not slagging off French wine! I'm not that disconnected from reality!

EXPENSIVE WINE!

Why do socialists have all the best drinks?

Yes, why? Not only is chardonnay the drink of socialists, but coffee as well. Coffee!
I mean, come on - do you expect Right Wing Death Beasts to go about sipping on tea for the rest of their lives?

As far as alcohol goes, beer for me please.

But I like Tim's idea, reclaiming chardonnay for the Right. And P.J. O'Rourke does a nice job putting forward gin and tonic as the beverage of choice for conservatives.