The dress code, according to the perfumed invitation delivered by a trained whippet in silk livery, was ”Black tie or traditional”. Far away in a candlelit apartment, heavy with narcotic scents and littered with half-empty flagons of absinthe, a model named Chaz scratched his perfect hair, the stretch marks on his biceps glinting in the flames and asked his exhausted lover what ”traditional” meant.

If eating in Michelin-starred restaurants were an Olympic sport — and it really ought to be — Pim Techamuanvivit would win gold, easy. In the last week of April, Pim sampled the tasting menu at the three-star Fat Duck in Bray, recently named best restaurant in the world.

In Car City, a chic, lavishly funded theme park in the Volkswagen company town of Wolfsburg in Germany, there is a museum, and in that museum, there is something from Britain. Among the waxed and buffed automobiles of all eras spread out over several floors sits a perky white model with familiar curves.

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany are meeting the new Iranian president today in an attempt to avoid referring Iran to the United Nations security council over its nuclear activities. Iran’s hardline President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meets the leaders to discuss ways of avoiding possible sanctions after Iran resumed its uranium enrichment programme last month.