From there, we went on to St Petersburg to join the Inter-Parliamentary Union. When you're away from home, it's pretty standard to get your kids some sort of trinket. While sauntering jauntily on my lunch break, I espied a fake Fabergé egg in blue and gold in a shop near my hotel. Expectations were high because I knew that my daughter, Christabel, would be expecting a National Party blue. The surly Russian shopkeep deliberately informed me via "nyet" that the blue was unavailable. I then scrutinised the Labour red and Greens green fake Fabergés. Unable to decide, I tried to explain to the shopkeep that if she knew me, deciding between red and green was an issue. She then warmed and suggested, "You're not choosing a husband. Make a choice." I retorted with "I'm no good at that either." She looked at me with a grave sense of disappointment and despair. I then asked, "Do any of those colours signify anything special in Russia?" And she responded with "Blue is best, but green for hope."