As readers will know by now, this is an austere kind of column. We don't do sex scandals. We don't dabble our fingers in the stuff of people's souls. I would not normally dream of citing a divorce case now unfolding before the courts; and therefore I will keep the details to the minimum before we come to the point at interest.

Let us say that there is a certain glamorous blonde in the throes of parting with her husband. She claims that he is worth £400 million and that under the laws of England she is entitled to half of his assets. He claims that this dosh has all but vanished. As soon as she lost that loving feeling, she found that his cash was gone, gone, gone and could not now be retrieved.

I have no idea who is right. It may be that the husband never had the £400m, or it may be that he left it in the back of a taxi or accidentally mixed it up with the dog food. Or it may be that the estranged wife is right to think that he still has it behind the sofa or in the cistern of the downstairs loo.