VIEWERS of The Treaty, currently being shown on RTE 1, might recognise the man featured in this year's Christmas card from British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Ken Clarke.

The New Statesman cartoon of former chancellor and prime minister Lloyd George looks quite like Ian Bannep, who plays the wily Welshman in the RTE/Thames TV series.

In his first budget speech, in 1909, the card tells us, Lloyd George launched an attack on dukes: "They only require a certificate of birth just to prove that they are first of the litter," he told the House of Commons. "You would not choose a spaniel on these principles. The House of Lords rejected the antipoverty budget, causing the collapse of the government and the 1910 general election. They didn't have to worry about taxing alcopops in those days.