They're just men behaving successfully

The vast majority of successful men in their 30s or older are married. That doesn't mean they don't envy an ambitious colleague who, unencumbered by wife and children, can devote himself to his career 16 hours a day or more. Highly successful single men don't have to rush home to spend "quality time" with their families.

There was a time when any single man who wanted to succeed in business, politics, showbusiness or even sport was severely handicapped until he found a wife. This was because of the fear of being considered homosexual. Even if you were truly a "confirmed bachelor", it certainly wasn't acceptable in many corporate cultures where climbing the ladder depended on your conforming to an explicit middle-class social stereotype that included a wife (who didn't work), two kids, a house in the suburbs, a dog and a cat.

As society has changed its attitude towards homosexuality and as single women have flooded the workforce, it has become increasingly acceptable for a man to forgo a family in order to concentrate entirely on his career.

While today most men still choose the comforts and support of a traditional monogamous relationship (in 1998, this can include a monogamous homosexual relationship), far fewer men get married in their early or mid-twenties than was the case 50 years ago. It's not simply wanting to enjoy their bachelor freedom longer, or Generation X's so-called "fear of commitment", but a rational desire to establish a firm economic foundation before taking on a life partner and embarking on parenthood.

Moreover, what young media executive doesn't envy, for example, Andrew Neil's freedom to pursue a career that includes being editor-in-chief of four Barclay Brothers' publications (the Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday, the European and Sunday Business), a chat show host on both the BBC and ITV, director of Mohamed Al Fayed's Liberty Publishing group (Punch, Liberty Radio) and a contributing editor of Vanity Fair - all this plus nights in Tramp in the company of various pretty young women.

Other highly successful single men today include:

John Browne - chief executive of BP; Michael Dobson - chairman of Morgan Grenfell; Peter Mandelson - Minister without Portfolio; Gordon Brown - Chancellor of the Exchequer; Michael Bloomberg - financial information tycoon; Geoffrey Boycott - cricketer; Dickie Bird - cricket umpire; David Geffen - Hollywood mogul; partner at Dreamworks.