In the latest issue of Vanity Fair, not online of course ("Lingering Shadows," July 2003, p. 52), Dominick Dunne writes, among other things, the following:

One result of the Iraq war was that I grew to dislike Jacques Chirac, the president of France, especially after seeing him interviewed most revealingly by Christiane Amapour on "60 Minutes." I think it will be interesting to see what happens when the next couture collections take place in Paris -- whether the American fashion world will storm Paris as usual, or whether there will be a noticeable cutback.

Yeah, I was just wondering the same thing. As if. Trust me, Dominick. It's about money. They'll be there.

In the same issue we learn that Ira Rennert, he of the notorious and possibly soon-to-be-completed 100,000-square-foot manse, "Fair Field," in the Hamptons, is, well, a pig. ("Devastating Luxury," p. 128.)

And, in regard to that article, perhaps one of my investment-banker readers -- I know you're out there, because we've corresponded in the past -- will explain what is meant by this sentence:

Ironically enough, in [Rennert's] huge corner office, the kind of junk-bond dividends sits at a massive partners desk.

My question, by the way, concerns the phrase "massive partners desk."