For years I've been meaning to buy myself a good coat. This year I had a decent budget and went up the west end, but with no success. On my way home, walking along Holloway Road, I went into that mad little second hand clothes shop near the college and picked up what looks like a mint condition tweedy overcoat that used to belong to Jacques Chirac, made by some posh tailor in Paris. It only cost £20 and now I am hooked. I've a feeling that this same shop has some of Francois Mitterand's old shirts, a George Pompideu suit and a very tiny 1998 era Manchester United shirt that I'm convinced must have been worn by Nicolas Sarkozy.