living well

One of the most creative areas of British journalism is the creation of synonyms for “notorious drunk”. Such people exist in British public life, but the constraints of libel laws mean that you would be very very foolish to say so. Even in obituaries, the preferred term is “convivial”. But I caught a lovely new phrase in the Times report of a distinguished Scottish lawyer arrested after an air rage incident at Heathrow. The man in question is “known as a bon viveur.”