Question was a joke

Published: 2 April 2010

IN recent times, Islington Council questionnaires have become familiar to most people, particularly on delicate matters such as sex, religion and ethnicity. 

The question, “Are you: a) male; b) female; c) other?”, is accepted almost without comment. Yet, 10 or 12 years ago the late Auberon Waugh, as editor of  Literary Review monthly, once completed a joke questionnaire on sexual matters. No prizes for guessing the first one, “Are you: a) male; b) female; c) other?”

Oscar Wilde claimed that life imitated art. How splendid it is to see bureaucracy imitating satire.

Tim Bleach, Elthorne estate, N19