Is a £7.50 pint in a paper cup really the end of life as we know it?

So we're back at Cheltenham. Cue more top racing, thrilling finishes and, judging from much of the reaction to the Showcase meeting in October, a lot of outrage at the prices.

I'm afraid you'll have to forgive me for not joining in with the chorus of disapproval that meant Cheltenham was forced to defend itself last month in the wake of criticism of its pricing of a pint of Guinness, up to £7.50 having already been as high as £7 for the festival in March.

Not just that but the offending beverage was served in 'paper cups', rather than what we had in March which was not glass either but those traditional, olde worlde, single-use plastic beakers, as seen in racecourse bars everywhere but in no decent pub in Christendom. I'd call it a step forward, certainly not a basis for noisy dissent.