Meetings

We are often told that the Chinese are very good at turning out well educated young people and from time to time we are invited to answer the sort of maths questions their youngsters are expected to be able to cope with - to find that we cannot cope at all.

But one of the less mentioned features of the schools that they run for their future leaders is the priority given to looking-interested-alert-and-awake classes. Provided one starts early, by the time the future leader is 25, he or she is able to cope with all-day meetings like that illustrated.

They don't, on this account, need to allocate that many places in the re-education camps set up on the Tibetan plateau for those junior leaders who show disrespect to senior leaders.

Prompted by a very similar picture in yesterday's DT, but this particular picture comes from http://www.turkishweekly.net/.