Sleeping rebels

Idealism still exists. It's just gone up in price a little. This week has seen a series of commemorative articles marking the 40th anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "bed-in" peace protest. Out of all the ex-Beatle's political statements, it's odd how lying in bed in a hotel has remained such a stand-out, if not stand-up, memory. This ultimate form of passive resistance really seemed to get under people's skin.

Given the number of people who claimed to have been in the bedroom with the couple, they must have been accommodated in a room the size of Wembley Stadium. "We were just passing through in our VW camper and they said come on up."

But back to the idealism. Toronto's Queen Elizabeth hotel was one of the locations for the bed-in protest in 1969, where Lennon and his followers sang songs and grew hairy in the cause of peace and love. In honour of the occasion, you can stay in the same suite for $599 per night in the irresistibly unironic "Imagine package". You get to sleep in the room, plus breakfast in bed and a CD of Give Peace A Chance. Yes, just imagine.

They say that history repeats itself, first as tragedy then as farce... and after that as a tourist attraction.