Tuesday evening in town was a scorching one, so I was relieved to steal a few calm, cool moments in the tucked-away oasis of The Connaught, where I sipped a glass of LP with the Grand Dame of the hotel world - Ms Fitzherbert - over industry talk.

Later on in Knightsbridge at the Oscar’s of the bartending world, the atmosphere was hot and hectic in the competition to find the UK’s Best Bartender. 15 finalists – whittled down from 1000 – took part in a series of performances in front of a panel of judges including the stern-faced Marco Pierre White, Ian Cameron from Theme and GQ’s Bill Prince.

An Edinburgh bartender, Ryan Chetiyawardana, was crowned winner having captivated the panel with his unassuming charm and authentic flip creation - a Three Storm Flip or ‘pudding in a glass’, the Gorgeous Group compere translated.

On Thursday I hotfooted down to Matthew D’Ancona’s lively Spectator Summer garden party where another kind of flipping was ‘the elephant in the room’ for the evening.

I waded through the political glitterati, news hounds, hacks and the odd fashionista. The party spilled over into the nextdoor’s garden. ITV, the Beeb and Channel Four anchors were well represented with Emily Maitlis, Andrea Catherwood, John Snow (in one of his more colourful tie combinations) in attendance. Political historian Andrew Roberts, Andrew Neil, Tory Michael Gove, Lord David Owen, Barrie Humphries and son Oscar, and the wild card for the evening - Ozwald Boetang, who was dressed in blinding white from head to toe. All sipped on Winston Churchill¹s favourite fizz, Pol Roger. A fine night was had by all. Chin-chin.

Nina