A columnist in today's Times (of London, England) describes
his journalistic brethern (is there a journalistic "sistern"?) as "the commentariat", and he says "This is the season of conkers". Perhaps the British members of our own 'commentariat' can tell me what "conkers" means. Here is an extract from the column lifted off of The Times web site:
This is the season of conkers. Behind the war over Afghanistan a pettier conflict can be discerned: a word battle amongst the commentariat, conducted on laptops and from the back benches of the House of Commons.