On just the first day of the war, more than 1,300 protesters across Russia, many of them chanting “No to war,” were detained, The Times reported, quoting a rights group. That’s no small number in a country where Putin brooks little dissent.

It is in this context of Irishphobia that the racist caricature of the drunken, violent, ignorant Paddy was established.

He was annoyed at having to get out to open the green gates, and then it was on down past the olive groves and the vineyards to the villa, in which I was hostaged for eleven days.

Can we use an accredited agent, or perhaps for a night-time incident it would be better to deploy in daylight hours, for example?