Eggs and Bacon off the Menu at Lord's

Mike Brearley, the new president of the MCC, has proposed that it is no longer necessary for members to wear a jacket and tie in the Long Room at Lord's. The MCC's rules currently state: "Whilst in the Pavilion, gentlemen shall wear ties and tailored coats and acceptable trousers with appropriate shoes. Ladies should wear dresses; or skirts or trousers worn with blouses, and appropriate shoes." There is an absolute ban on "jeans and their close relations; leggings; jodhpur-style trousers; T-shirts; track suits; training shoes; plimsolls; flip flop shoes; denim clothing and overalls".

There is an 18-year waiting list to join the MCC, and only full members are permitted to wear the club's famous "eggs and bacon" tie. If they are not expected to wear their ties in the Pavillion, one wonders at the point of having a club tie at all - since it is of course extremely vulgar to wear a club tie anywhere except in one's own club. The Long Room at Lord's lends itself to proper dress. Not wearing a collar and tie would, inversely, be like having a bath dressed for a snipe shoot in Norfolk.

When Brearley captained Middlesex during the 1970s, the team was notoriously scruffy off the pitch. Bowler Mike Selvey used to sport a T-shirt declaring "No wucking furries", and Brearley himself often batted with the collar of his shirt turned up. But as president of the MCC he has pooh-poohed any connection between behaviour off the pitch and pitch discipline. "I think it's a load of rubbish," he said, wearing an open-collared shirt and a pair of slip-on shoes.