I like to think that I witnessed the moment when Lord Black of Crossharbour realised that he was in deep, deep trouble. The former newspaper magnate goes on trial for fraud in Chicago next week, but back in the summer of 2003 he was still swaggering. We were both at a lunch, where I found myself sitting between the head of a famous private equity firm and an important man from Goldman Sachs.

Lord Black, who was at another table, wandered over and began a joshing conversation with the private equity boss about their corporate jets. Was it worth getting anti-missile systems fitted? he bantered. Since this was not a conversation that I felt I could usefully contribute to, I stayed silent and picked moodily at my bread roll.