The business world came out to play last week as property's towering egos hopped over to Cannes for its annual Mipim bunfight, while the retail glitterati caught some sun at Philip Green's 55th birthday bash in the Maldives.
The theme in France was more "my yacht is longer than your yacht" than "my deal is bigger than yours".
Lined up in the harbour side by side were property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz's yacht Veni, Vidi, Vici; his brother Robert's slightly bigger boat and a gin palace occupied by Vincent's former employee Paul Taylor, who now runs Qatari-backed fund Three Delta.
Taylor and Robert Tchenguiz are accidental bedfellows in the brawl for Sainsbury's, where both have done some rather mysterious stake building. But with Robert shunning Mipim for Green's bash, the focus of attention was all on the floating hardware.
Taylor's boat was easily the more impressive, but Tchenguiz junior was not to be outdone. "Yeah he's got the bigger boat. The difference is that I own mine," Vincent was quick to tell us.
But handbags at dawn were avoided in the Maldives. Green's star guest Kate Moss, who would still have been up at dawn, with or without her handbag, was a no-show. But so was Green's nemesis, Marks & Spencer chief executive Stuart Rose. Rose's inclusion was a sign Green is finally ready to let bygones be bygones after the takeover battle for M&S. But a rapprochement was not to be - Rose pleaded work commitments kept him back in London, the excuse Moss used.
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