“In the UK we’re not that comfortable talking about human rights, not in the same way that, say French people would be. We’re much more interested in talking about what works, about pragmatic solutions. But when people start talking about people having a right to something, I think that “grates” here in the UK.”

He is so right. Which makes Shami Chakrabati’s achievement in even getting an airing for civil rights issues all the more impressive.

The downside of our British pragmatism is that we so often find ourselves at the thick end of the wedge, before we’ve even realised there was a wedge.

The current, derivatives-led accountability fiasco is a case in point.