There were stretches of days when the lakes were closed because of the algae. It sometimes secreted neurotoxins that could be fatal.

But we must make it clear that in building our friendship with the Chinese on the mainland we will not sacrifice our Chinese friends on Taiwan. Julian Amery put the issue eloquently: It is often necessary and legitimate to abandon causes long supported and to dissolve pledged bonds of alliance. But it is always wrong to abandon men who have been friends to their fate. We may have to jettison their interests but we should leave no stone unturned to save at least their lives.

Rather incredibly, Mills recommended that white-collar Americans adopt a kind of Lomanesque hopelessness and despair, as such a perspective at least acknowledged the unfortunate realities of being middle class in postwar America.

And Thane nodded and staggered blindly upward, only to sag again in a heap upon the veldt.