The Diary was certainly bewildered to see the well-known face of Allen & Overy spinmeister-in-chief Iain Rodger in the official match day programme of Chelsea Football Club last week.

Not only is Iain surrounded by a bunch of Afghans but, according to the programme notes, he is
now working for the global news agency Reuters.

As scribes at The Diary rushed to their phones to check whether the great man had been kidnapped by a ruthless Al Qaeda cell and sentenced to life as a lowly hack, a less sensational story emerged.

It transpires that Iain's girlfriend Jo – who does work for Reuters – had taken a group of Afghan journalists to the game as part of an initiative to improve their English and journalistic skills.

Rumours that Iain has lined up A&O's tax department to hold a plain English master-class for the unsuspecting Afghans remain unconfirmed.