This doesn’t feel like a last gasp to me. This feels like one of those times when people wake up at the eleventh hour. You are right, it may be the last chance we get to land a punch on China, while it is still dependent on exports to fuel its growth and before it becomes a fully fledged superpower. All the more reason to use the publicity from the games to get people to boycott Chinese goods.

I have been banging on about China for years and it finally feels like people are starting to take notice. I’m damned if I’m going to let up now.

Sometimes I hate Britishness. What kind of sociopathic lunatic goes on a protest against a dictatorial regime so she can say she doesn’t like the way they treat puppy dogs…?

Generally speaking, and with some exceptions, I am not in favour of sporting boycotts, at least not in isolation. It seems particularly harsh, for one thing, to pick on sportsmen and expect them to salve the conscience of a nation when businessmen line their pockets unmolested by such high-minded considerations. No-one, I notice, is proposing that we stop buying Chinese widgets, or boycott the Jade Inn on the high street, so why should it fall to kayakers and three-day-eventers to wrap themselves in the flag of Amnesty International?

However, he goes on to say that pretty-much everyone’s a git in this scenario.