Leader: Why no-one's coming to dinner

EVER since the theatrical third degree that was Abigail's Party, dinner parties have been on the wane. Who would dare expose their tastes and conversational vacuity to such searing ridicule?

And while Come Dine With Me may have revived interest in the dinner party and the culinary ambitions of participants, who could now hold one without wondering who has gone snooping round the bedrooms and what was being said while you were in the kitchen stuffing the vol-au-vents?

A survey finds that just 1 per cent of Scots say a formal three-course meal is their favourite form of entertaining. It has been killed, surely, by chronic abuse during an era where formal manners were packed off into the communal wheelie bin.

Better these days to have the neighbours and children round for a barbecue or pizza slices and a bottle or two of supermarket grog. Informality, unfussiness, low expense and "come as you are" is today's style. If it's too ghastly you can peel off back home to watch Wallander without causing offence. Dinner parties should be reserved for more formal occasions with the family or friends when conversation can match the effort put into the food. When in doubt, book a restaurant, and mock the food and decor with impunity.