At a reception given last night by the Queen for the British hospitality industry, some of the guest list was predictable. Gordon Ramsay, for example, was in attendance.

We have ITN to thank for recording his pronouncement that British cooking – having apparently emerged from a period when it had a “dogmatic reputation” – “can equally match the French now, the Italians and the Americans.” So that’s all settled then. Must remember to look out for all those new English restaurants springing up when we travel round France, Italy and America.

Some invitees to HM’s event were less ‘obvious’ than the Sweary One, including – somewhat to their surprise – humble guide book writers such as yours truly.

We therefore found ourselves with the unexpected opportunity to explain to the Duke of Edinburgh how we write our publications by consulting the views of thousands of ordinary restaurant-goers every year.

We’d like to be able to report that His Royal Highness was most impressed with this avowedly democratic approach, but, sadly, protocol dictates…

PS (9 May) Another day, another Ramsay pronouncement. This time it’s the BBC which is given an audience. Gordo’s latest big idea? “British restaurants should be fined if they serve fruit and vegetables which are not in season”. This is such a good idea that he “had already spoken to … Gordon Brown about outlawing out-of-season produce”. Now there’s an idea to boost the Prime Minister’s popularity!

Ramsay, incidentally, was “speaking to the BBC before the start of the fourth series of his Channel 4 show The F Word”.

PPS (12 May) Inevitably, the newspapers, and the bloggers, have had a field day with Ramsay’s latest absurd – and, in the case, hypocritical – pronouncement. Most flavours of opinion are to be found in the Guardian blog, where perhaps the most perspicacious observation comes from “GavP”, who says: “How about everytime a C-list celebrity appears in the news after making a half-baked suggestion for a new law they have to pay a fine?”. (Ramsay, of course, is A-list nowadays, but the sentiment is good nonetheless.)

The whole issue is considered at some length in the Independent .