Top editors were having conspicuous affairs.
These days, Mr. Taubman, while avoiding conspicuous affairs like charity galas, has been entertaining guests regularly at his Fifth Avenue apartment, according to friends.
And in his own highly idiosyncratic way, he was a devoted husband to his wife, Rose, a priggish, pious, humorless and deeply boring woman, while conducting conspicuous affairs with Gloria Swanson, Clare Boothe Luce and "hundreds" of other women.
The Radio 2 controller, Lesley Douglas, has been conspicuous in the affair only by her public silence.
If his tendency to fall out of step with the administration and to ignore talking points sent around by the Republican National Committee has been most conspicuous on foreign affairs, he has been just as much his own man on domestic issues.
This might seem unlikely, not least because the story of a bored French housewife seduced into conspicuous consumption and extramarital affairs by unrealistic expectations of love, romance and purchasing power promulgated by popular culture would seem an ironic choice for women who epitomise precisely this ethos.
She was known for her reporting on the murky business affairs and conspicuous wealth of top officials allied to Mr Yanukovych.
Damian Green, the immigration minister, who has been conspicuous by his absence since the affair broke last Friday night, appeared in the Commons to wind up the debate for the government.
The company's high-powered bash will be attended by Chairman Bill [Gates], which is quite different from the Sun announcement, a low-key affair where Sun CEO Scott McNealy was conspicuous by his absence.
Alcohol, as I described in a piece on China's love affair with wine, has become a prime tool for conspicuous consumption.
