Bear Essentials

Paddington Bear eats marmalade sandwiches, and always will - and that's official. Well, that's a relief. I must admit I was getting a little worried, what with the Great Bear appearing in TV commercials eating Marmite butties.

Of course, such a turncoat attitude would never do, and I am relieved to see Michael Bond, Paddington's creator, stepping in to reassure the public. "I have to report that although Paddington found the sandwiches interesting, bears are creatures of habit," he wrote in a letter to the Times.

In these days of ever-changing loyalties, infinitely flexible politicians with no idea what they stand for and millions of lunatic campaign groups baying for whatever they feel is important today (anti-smoking, pro-smoking, environ-mental-ists - you name it, there are factions for and against it), icons such as Paddington Bear are an essential anchor to a saner world.

Attempts to change them in any way must be resisted. Sure, Paddington can try Marmite, but it must never, ever replace his marmalade. If you change the butty, you change the bear, and that would be a sacrilege too hideous to contemplate.

The world may be descending into a period of insanity from which it may never recover, but Paddington Bear is forever!

Billy Seggars.