Peter Rhodes on short-measure yoghurt, posh names at the Beeb and the misery of moving home

She referred to "England - the posh bit of Britain." Smile while ye may. In the next few years I expect to see such appalling racism expunged from our culture.

THE wonders of food science. How on earth do the boffins produce a yoghurt containing zero fat? Part of the answer may lie in the filling process. I've just opened a yoghurt pot which was barely half full. You may expect some settlement in the packet when it's cornflakes, washing powder or porridge oats but yoghurt, for heaven's sake? Is it easier to produce a yoghurt containing zero per cent fat if the pot is only 50 per cent full in the first place?

STILL on food, a sudden rise in the price of vanilla is reportedly forcing some ice-cream makers to consider dropping the flavour from their range. I am sure we will struggle by. I can't be the only customer who thinks vanilla is what food tastes of if it doesn't taste of anything else.

BBC presenter Tim Willcox told a High Court tax tribunal that the "whimsical" world of broadcast news meant, for example, that somebody might be turned down for work because the bosses "don't want someone with a double barrelled named on the Ten O'Clock News." Well, maybe so. But some BBC stars seem to come from frightfully refined stock and still succeed. The Radio 4 star leading the campaign for equal pay at the Beeb and "incandescent" with rage at the unfairness of the system, is a colonel's daughter who married a wealthy baronet. Her full title is Sarah Anne Louise Montague, Lady Brooke, although she's known at work as plain Sarah Montague.

LAST week the online petition "Give the electorate a referendum on the abolition of the House of Lords" stood at 126,854 names. I gave it a small mention (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/209433) in this column. This week it's at 151,646 and rising.

THE columnist Liz Jones suggets that the happiest of people are those who never move home. I can believe that. My early life was a constant succession of packing and unpacking from Pickford's vans and it was a miserable experience. They say that when it comes to stress, moving home is right up there with divorce and bereavement. However, there are some characters in Whitehall who take a dim view of other people being happy. A few years ago some bright young political advisor produced a paper claiming that, because people pay stamp duty when they move home, those who stay in the same home for many years were "dodging" stamp duty and should therefore be taxed to make up for it.

I'M away next week and you'll have to struggle by without me for a few days. In the meantime, let me assure you that until the end of this week, this column will be a Royal Wedding-free zone.