Recently in Damian Wild Category

Vincent Tchenguiz's hugely anticipated MIPIM party aboard his yacht Veni, Vidi, Vici went ahead last night. 

The champagne flowed for the 70 or so guests aboard. The host himself, however, was absent.  His spokesman Seán Bellew joked: "He is like the Great Gatsby - he never appears at his own parties."

Given the intense media interest in the brothers' arrest, it was little surprise that as the party kicked off at 8pm most of the guests present were from the fourth estate. "I never knew there were so many property journalists," said one "proper" guest.

"I've never been papped before," said one of the journalists present, pointing to the photographers on the quayside snapping guests as they arrived.

Not for the first time, carefully planned launches and meetings at MIPIM were overshadowed by unconnected events.

The arrest of Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz as part of an investigation into the collapse of Icelandic investment bank Kaupthing was being talked about long into the night. As I strolled home along Le Croisette in the early hours of this morning I lost count of the number of times I heard their names being mentioned in late-night, champagne-fuelled conversations.

To read the rest of Damian Wild's take on the unfolding story read our digital magazine MIPIM Today on estatesgazette.com, available this afternoon.

Estates Gazette will be at Mipim in force this year. You will already have seen our digital preview edition, published this week. 

We will be bringing you breaking news throughout the event online and through our digital daily editions, published on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. On Thursday we'll be staging a live web seminar, sponsored by GVA. For the first time you'll be able to ask questions from the comfort of your own desk to our panel in Cannes, including the Lord Mayor of the City of London. 

All this and more is available all week through estatesgazette.com.

Other estatesgazette blogs that will be covering Mipim:

• Cycle to Cannes
• Jackie Sadek
• The Focus Blog
• The Midlands Property Blog

Worried about a lack of development in London? Then the model on the London stand should help put your mind at rest.

From Nine Elms to Stratford there's evidence of plenty of activity and, as the picture shows, several beacons of light.

Odd then to be interviewing Boris later on the Paris stand....