Her Royal Majesty, and her husband, The Duke of Edinburgh arrive today to unveil the foundation stone for the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, a stones throw away from my office (actually I am in CMS, so not even that).

They arrive in all their pomp, glory, pageantry, and paranoia. As if anyone would be bothered enough to shoot them. Anyway had dogs crawling all over my office yesterday looking for tell-tale signs of bombs and sniper-scopes.

Any mention of HRH conjures up the image of Deepak Ramani's (a chap I knew back at TAM, Cornell - a second generation Indian) mother paying money to take a gander at the (fake) Crown Jewels in the Tower of London, only to be told by the Bobby that "Lady, we are not giving them back". Talk about showing off incriminating evidence. Scotland Yard has taken a several steps backwards.