A laugh-out-loud moment this morning upon reading the following headline "Richard Desmond 'wants to buy The Sun newspaper' ".

This wasn't even a case of Desmond making his own headlines, as happened with the recent scoop in the Daily Express about his decision to invest in new newspaper presses from KBA.

Rather, the story came about as a result of Desmond being interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme. Let's not bother ourselves with the small detail of The Sun not actually being for sale - you've just got to love the chutzpah. His comment about being able to run the tabloid more efficiently, too, is a supreme wind-up. He is indeed an expert on publishing on a miniscule budget, as any regular reader of Private Eye (and indeed the Express) will know.

That's one of the reasons he has £1bn of potential spending money kicking around, despite the vast sums poured into launching OK! magazine in the States. Curiously enough the other Desmond-related headline I saw this week came from the New York Post, which reckons cumulative losses at OK! USA work out at almost $800,000 per issue. The Desmond team beg to differ, describing the $175m sunk stateside as an investment, not a loss.

Desmond is a very, very rich bloke who can do what he likes with his money. He's also one of a select band of influential business owners who can say and do exactly what they want - however mischievous or outlandish - without the burden of City or shareholder strictures. Felix Dennis is another example, but such individuals are few and far between these days.

Long may they continue, life would be so much duller without them.