Capital Ale

The final Wells & Youngs beer to sample is the flagship of their range, the 6.4% ABV, bottle-conditioned Young’s Special London Ale. It comes in a brown bottle with an attractive, mainly blue label.

It pours clear, leaving all the sediment in the bottle, and exhibits a vigorous natural carbonation, as with the London Gold, which suggests that the brewery have mastered the issue of getting consistent quality and genuine secondary fermentation from bottle-conditioned ales.

The colour is dark amber – not a pale beer, but fairly pale for a British ale of this strength. It has a full, satisfying mouthfeel, as with all the W&Y beers. The aroma is subdued, mixing fruit with CO2.

There’s an initial surprising hoppy attack, which then slowly metamorphoses through spiciness into a lingering aftertaste of sweet, creamy malt. It is fairly light in body for its strength, although you are aware of some alcohol warmth.

A distinctive, complex, multi-faceted beer that makes a good contrast with the richer, heavier Fullers 1845, which is of similar strength. Definitely one to be savoured.

IF THE GLOVE FITS ...

No UK leader has ever been despised more than Tony Blair. He raised our hopes, he lied, he stabbed us in the back. He took our kids to an illegal war. He is responsible for the death of millions of innocents and the destruction of their homes and property.

He sold us out, stripped us of our pride and civil liberties, and then walked away and left that dictator Brown to finish the job of bringing us to our knees.

Having done the damage, Blair then walked away and turned his back on the country he once said he cared for "with every sinew" of his sweaty body. I felt like puking when he used that kind of clichéd hyperbole. Now he is making money off it with his memoirs.

There is a suggestion that Blair's new book is in the wrong section of the bookshop and should be moved to crime or treason. It seems to have caught on and the British are showing their hatred of this former leader and everything he stood for in a subtle and dignified way by simply moving books from one shelf to another.

Meanwhile one of the creeps he left behind in his NuParty has been having a bit of bother.

The news that Phil Woolas is the same kind of lying cheat as his former boss comes as no surprise. Nulabour must be the most corrupt party for almost 100 years.

The former champions of the disaffected, the broken, the beaten and the wretched, that three generations of my family supported, has been reduced to a gang of tyrants and thugs who are more concerned with the cut of their suits.

NuLabour hammered its core working class support to gain the votes in seats that mattered under an unfair voting system. It's leaders shamed us and dragged us into an economic mire to bribe sleepwalkers into keeping them in power for 13 long years.

The British sleeping lion is beginning to wake. His yawn will become a roar and I hope it's heard at the by election forced by Woolas's deception. The outcome and the first test of this new ConDem coalition will be fascinating to watch. I hope they get what they deserve for all their broken promises and shallow lies.

For me the only political answer to start putting some real passion into solving the country's problems is UKIP. Former supporters of the LibLabCon party are drifting over to UKIP as the only hope of gaining back some self respect and pride.

It's great to see that Nigel Farage made it back as UKIP leader and with such huge support from members of the party. He's a great orator and he carries the crowd with him. If anyone in the party can win a seat in Parliament, then it's Farage.

He seems a normal down to earth and decent sort of bloke and his presence would shake the foundations of that exclusive Parliament club.

SMOKER SCANS

THIS would be good news but it's not just smokers who get lung cancer and it is not just smoking that causes it.

We know that so isn't it time to investigate other risk factors? Those affected may need their own special brand of scanning.

There should be no distinctions between smokers or non-smokers in healthcare even if smokers pay far more into the NHS in their lifetime.

Or as Sir Humphrey put it :

"Yes, but cigarette taxes pay for a third of the cost of the National Health Service. We are saving many more lives than we otherwise could because of those smokers who voluntary lay down their lives for their friends. Smokers are national benefactors."