To say, yes, we are doing everything brilliantly, I would never do that. But, there is no question in my mind that sanctions are having an impact. But it’s not a sort of switch you can flick on or off.

• You’ve said the monks on the streets of Burma are a sign of progress in the march toward democracy. But all the big Asian neighbours are just as silent as 20 years ago.

I think the genie is out of the bottle. Look at education and communications. Sure different countries will take different positions in trying to manage things in different ways. But the monks walked past the British Embassy clapping, which means they know something about what we’re saying. I don’t want to be naive or rose-tinted about it. Some of them are getting beat up or even killed. But the reason I point to progress is that it’s very easy... to sort of hope the world goes away. But what are the top issues? Iran, Kosovo, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Iraq, Burma. And actually it’s important to see the trends as well as the traumas.