Crowther looks resentful. Apparently he’s blaming me for making him feel bad. His narcissism is in a league of its own. Munis, whose eyes are glued to Jess’s breasts in a tight blue top, won’t validate my annoyance either.

‘It’s grief,’ he says to me, with the kind of gravity reserved for statements that are supposed to be profound. ‘Your anger, it’s normal, natural. Part of the seven stages.’

‘Oh my God, Patrick, this is my life – not some fucking feature you’ve written for the lifestyle pages of The Times. If you really wanted to be new age, you’d look at Jess’s face, not her tits.’

Elliott guffaws. ‘Boys, boys!’ he says. ‘Time for another drink.’ He calls over the young student waitress and orders more Krug.

‘I see it’s 1.45. I must be at the “bargaining” stage by now,’ I say. ‘Let’s hope I can get through all five grief stages by the time I leave.’

Elliott is relieved I have switched from fury to sarcasm. Jess squeezes my arm. And then she pounces on Alex. ‘So,’ she says, ‘What’s all this about Media Corp and Capital Television?’

‘I’ve already heard Elliott’s bullshit on this,’ says Crowther. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’ He heads for the downstairs men’s room, presumably to fortify himself with a line or three. Munis also excuses himself, as he’s spotted his paper’s deputy editor walking past. Alex tops up Jess’s glass.

‘I am not sure what you mean,’ he says glibly.

‘Really? It’s the talk of EC2,’ she replies. ‘The arbs are betting huge that you are about to launch a bid. Literally no one is short of the stock. It’s seen as a one-way bet.’

‘It’s bollocks.’

‘Is that “bollocks” as in “it’s categorically not true”, or “bollocks” as in “maybe the little girl won’t notice I haven’t denied it”?’

Elliott’s eyes widen. He’s close to lashing out. Jess continues, ‘Capital is a match made in heaven for you. Breitner understands TV. It’s mature. Capital may not have growth but it spews out cash. And the one thing you need is cash.’ She points out that much of Media Corp is in satellite TV and the buzzwords of the moment that no one understands, ‘the information superhighway’, are high growth and massively cash negative. ‘This is the kind of deal Breitner orgasms over. It might even give Breitner the financial platform to do what we all know he really wants to do, which is buy AOL.’

Elliott puts down his glass. ‘You are very intelligent and very persuasive. But listen to me, sweetie. I will say this slowly. The arbs are wrong. The City boys are wrong. We’re not interested.’