spot on

One of the things that bemuses me are the non-socialist views of what "socialist" means.
e.g. If you are not on the breadline, you mustn't have left-wing ideals or, if you do, you are a "champagne socialist".

Look on that You-tubey thing for the episode of HIGNFY, when Louise Mensch is literally disassembled by every other person on the panel for whingeing that the Occupy protesters had the audacity to buy coffees from Starbucks

I saw it when it was on the telly.
I loved Hislop's put-down of Mensch when he said that it wasn't worth explaining to her.

But the Tories always need to do this. When I first became interested in politics in the sixties, it was "they live in council houses, but can afford cars" In the seventies it was the same except "they can afford colour TV's"
I went on a coach trip to Tuscany in 1996 and (as Channel 4 have discovered) there's always someone on a coach who gets on everyone elses t!ts. This guy worked for the Tory party at elections and he'd updated to "they can afford Sky TV"
Presumably being able to afford Stabucks rip-off prices for indifferent coffee is the latest Tory bon mot.

It's cigarettes and beer these days...


I think it's actually cheape to be a champagne socialist these days, given the price of beer.

And completely ignoring the point that you'd need to travel a fair way from St Paul's to find a "Jim's Caff", knocking coffees out at 50p a cup

Let me just get a quick capitalist reality check here.

Does 'socialist' equal 'should not like better things in life'? If so, why?

I'm happy to be a Cava socialist - I can't tell the difference so I don't spend the extra money on champagne!

I love beer, sometimes – and I love champagne sometimes.

So goodness knows where that leaves me on the great scale of lazy political stereotypes.

I've always thought 'champagne socialist' was a daft comment. First, there's no 'rule' somewhere that tells socialist: 'thou shalt not drink the fizz'' – and old Fred will certainly have imbed some, while Charlie (who was a bit of a lad) will too, when he had the chance, no doubt.

But second, if you're going down that route, then surely the answer is simple: 'nothing's too good for the workers'? In which case, if the workers want beer, fine. If they want bubbly, equally fine. If they want water, there's nowt wrong with that either.

The idea that one's liking or otherwise for a specific drink is based on your class is idiocy.