Five House Republicans, representing various segments of the party, asked their GOP colleagues not to submit earmark requests this year.

Even the least fogeyish of politicians have been flummoxed by the internet. Tony Blair, champion of all things modern, paid no end of lip service to the potential of new media as prime minister but was comically technophobic himself.

The age of deference is dead. If our masters needed further proof, then the unprecedented collapse of Gordon Brown’s approval ratings has provided it.