A night’s stopover at Le Bristol, Sarkozy’s favourite Paris hotel, a very convivial dinner and a brisk meeting make you think that the City is not such a bad life after all – yet hundreds if not thousands leave the so-called rat race each year in search of a better life.

Paul Gauguin, for example, worked as a stockbroker until he was 40 and then gave everything up, left his wife and five children, to become an artist - and an unsuccessful one at that - no technique and funny colours didn't sell in late 19th century France. Hard to imagine now as crowds flock round his pictures at the Musée d'Orsay, where I bunked off for the afternoon following my board meeting (I mean of course that I rescheduled my allocations of time, moving work to a more convenient hour).