So Tessa Jowell has separated from her husband, the corporate lawyer and associate of Silvio Berlusconi, David Mills. What always surprised me was what Jowell, who seems a wholesome and intelligent person, was doing married to a cove who specialised in tax-avoidance (which, I hasten to say, is perfectly legal).

I’m reminded of something Nancy Astor said, in a reply to a question about why she had shacked up with her first husband, an alcoholic adulterer. “I married beneath me”, she said. “Women always do”. She also observed once that “the penalty of success is to be bored by people who used to snub you”, and that the only thing she liked about rich people was their money. Quite a dame.