Obiter never quite gets round to entering the ticket ballot for the new year’s day concert at the Musikverein, Vienna. That was particularly regrettable this year as there was a bit of a shout-out to the legal profession, through the inclusion of Johann Strauss Junior’s Die Extravaganten Walzer composed, the BBC presenter reminded us, for the 1858 Solicitors’ Ball.

Well, <Sad Face> (as the gilded youth of today’s Mittel-Europe bar schools no doubt say).

Except that a little light research reveals that Der Juristen-Ball is still very much with us. The next ball is on 25 February; and will be no modest affair, hosted in the state rooms of the Hofburg (Imperial Palace).

We are promised debutantes, a ‘wine buffet’, quadrilles, waltzes and (for those who are de-Straussing for February) side rooms offering jazz and contemporary bands.

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