On and on and on it goes, 17 months now and no end in sight. As the losses mount up and the borrowings soar and the cost in human misery, bankrupt businesses and vanished jobs climbs towards the stratosphere, isn’t it time to ask again why we aren’t insisting that China indemnify the rest of the world for the virus it unleashed on civilisation?

It’s a question few people seem willing to consider seriously (David Flint in this magazine is a notable exception).