I learn from the BBC that David Cameron, leader of the Tory Party, likes a game of darts down the pub with a pint of Guinness. Clearly "Bullingdon Dave" needs to attract support from the drinking classes but I find it curious that the publicly-funded BBC, which doesn't carry advertising, has given a free plug for the Irish stout.
It's not usually so generous. A few weeks ago, the BBC1 Country File programme featured "a brewery in Oxfordshire". The presenter said it was his local brewery and showed the magnificent Victorian buildings, complete with steam engine and traditional brewing vessels, along with horse-drawn drays delivering the beer. But the brewery wasn't named (it was Hook Norton).
Last year, the James May/Oz Clarke series on drinking beer, wine, whisky and anything they could get their hands on included a lengthy piece on a CAMRA beer festival. Except there was no mention of CAMRA. The organisers told me the production company that produed the series for the BBC told them to take down all brewery logos from the tents and even the CAMRA logo because "BBC guidelines say you cannot promote commercial organisations". Yet CAMRA is a consumer organisation, not a commercial company.
But when it comes to Guinness, the BBC has no such inhibitions. It was good to know, as a licence payer, that Cameron likes to play arrers down the rub-a-dub with a glass of Barmaid's Pout.