Monaco’s main conference centre was the handy venue for a debate on how business could help the poor and save the planet last week. The key delegates were multimillionaire entrepreneurs who, if they tired of talking, only needed to nip across the road for a spot of shopping. Nearby stores offered Maybach limousines to drive to the casino ($600,000), two-bedroom flats bestowing tax-free residency ($4m) or luxury yachts to moor in the harbour ($7m and up).

These options were not open to a member of the urbane poor like me. So I was prepared to sit through the session, having selected a pair of stout matchsticks with which to prop open my eyelids. Debates on corporate social responsibility thrill me as little as talks on diesel locomotives by bobble-hatted trainspotters, with the difference that I am under no obligation to attend the latter.