By Howard G. Chua-Eoan

Caesar's wife must be above reproach. But what if Caesar is the wife? In Pakistan tongues are wagging about Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. It appears that senior Pakistani officials are annoyed by some of Zardari's habits. They include sauntering uninvited into state functions, his shirt half unbuttoned macho-fashion, and slumping into a chair with a distant bored look. Protocol chiefs are speechless, but the Prime Minister does not seem to mind her hubby's behavior.

In Britain, on the other hand, some influential Tory politicians have been quietly working to arrange a special honor for someone they regard as the unsung hero of 10 Downing Street: Denis Thatcher, husband of Margaret. Why? For the past ten years, they aver, he has cheerfully fulfilled the role of consort, never seeking the limelight, bearing jokes and barbs with aplomb and, above all, causing no embarrassment. Some, of course, feel that, just for putting up with the Iron Lady, Denis should be decorated or, as the British say, given a "gong."