GUB: perhaps it's something to do with that, with capital costs and costs of feeding, stabling, insurance, transport, medical bills and so on, only the fairly wealthy can own a horse at all, after they've bought the house and couple of SUVs. And playing polo without a horse is said to be rather painful, even more so than rugby league in slippers. And if you can afford a horse, it's likely to be little Diana who's riding it, and the biggest risk the insurance you can afford will allow is a little prancing over stripy broomsticks.

So perhaps the fact that you and your mates can play football with a minimum investment of four coats and a ball makes polo seem a little remote to those who would probably be told to get lorst even if they went along to watch. And the observation that the occupants of shiny 15 foot high 4x4s often pay less income tax than a phone centre slave might make their attitude a little less than warmly inclusive.

A little over 200 years ago, when the well- off of a nearby foreign land made tax- dodging and showing off an artform, some objectors eventually rewarded them with free cephalotomies. The way things are going, this history could repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time on the Discovery Channel.