Had he returned to Chambord, the great château on the Loire, yesterday Louis XIV would have recognised the scene: a gaggle of dignitaries shooting boar, attended with pomp by the palace guard and ending in a torchlight ritual and banquet.

But this ceremonial hunting party was not the revival of the ancien régime. It was President Sarkozy's latest wheeze to reward today's courtiers and cultivate French and foreign VIPs of value to the Republic.

However, the presidency has been thrown on the defensive this week after the media rumbled the regal battues, or game shoots, which Mr Sarkozy quietly revived in December.

The chasse présidentielle was dropped by President Chirac in 1995 as unfitting for modern democracy. During the 1970s and 1980s, Presidents Giscard and Mitterrand used the chasse to bestow favours and cultivate foreign leaders, including the late Shah of Iran and the late Emperor Bokassa of the Central African Republic.

A multi-millionairre Austrian count has claimed that his human rights were abused in a British jail because his prison issue underpants were too small.

Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, who owns a palace in Austria and a house in London's affluent Sloane Square spent seven days in jail as part of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) fraud investigation into a BAE arms deal.

He was eventually released after BAE struck a deal with UK and US authorities over alleged bribery and corruption charges.

After returning to his palace in Burgenland, Austria, he said: "In the UK human rights are not exactly respected like they are in Austria. I wasnt given underwear that was my size despite asking for it several times. And they didnt give me a comb."

The 56-year-old also complained that the prison issue disposable razor had been used before, saying: "I found stubble in it - so I demanded and was given a vaccination against Hepatitis B."

Switzerland's Simon Ammann has won the ski jumping normal hill gold medal for the first Olympic title awarded at the Vancouver Games.

Richard Hamilton invented the term 'pop art' 53 years ago, and, from his 60s Swingeing London series to Tony Blair as a cowboy, he has been ahead of the curve ever since.

Football (of a sort) in knee-deep snow

Time once agin for the annual Snow Soccer World Championships. Forget Vancouver, Hyrynsalmi in Eastern Finland is where the action is.

Women's third division football team FC Niin Ookoo ("So OK") from the western city of Vaasa have also set their sights on winning the whole thing.
      "We came here with victory in mind", confirms Johanna Tamsi.
      "We have prepared carefully. We trained not once but twice."
      Pushing the team minibus back on the road from an excursion into the ditch the previous night also served as a last-minute fitness test.
      It seems to have helped: FC Niin OoKoo breeze through their qualifying group undefeated, scoring eight goals without reply.
      But they fall in the semi-finals and can hope for no better than bronze.