TS is well aware that, if you’re the Chinese assistant finance minister in town to speak to UK’s accountants, you’re going to be in demand.

This was the case for Wang Jun, who gave a stirring presentation (in Mandarin) at the ICAEW’s annual conference. No sooner had the applause died down than the minister promptly upped and left ­ not even staying to hear Hermes boss Tony Watson do his bit.

In fact, he had been whisked away by ACCA for talks, no doubt to ensure they will be seen as the global accountancy body of choice. We can but assume he visited the other institutes as well. Hope he got time to go shopping in the West End with the missus.