IN UNRELATED NEWS, MY BROTHER IS EN ROUTE TO BEIJING: China’s women show taste for fast cars and whisky.

UPDATE: Reader Theodore Simon writes: “I can attest to that. Here’s a picture I took on the streets of Beijing a few weeks ago, as I watched this woman try to drive her brand new Ferrari off the showroom floor and into the street. She was ultimately defeated by the planter box on the left, which she wasn’t able to maneuver around. And get a load of the roadster in the second picture, which I took through the window of a showroom near my hotel. There were a half dozen even more exotic models on display. Note the FFF dealership name plate on the windshield. There’s lots of money being spent in Beijing and in the other large cities of China. China has become the ultimate consumer society.”

And reader Alan Henderson emails: “Remember the old ‘Democracy! Whisky! Sexy!’ slogan from a few years back? Looks like the Chinese have those second and third items going. Now if they could jump-start the first…”