particularly taoists. he has a great affection for the taoists of china.ecause theyjust thought it was a greatjoke. they didn't know how insulting it is? no, because, remember, the chinese refer to us as "gweilo", which means ghosts. people who haven't been properly reincarnated. which is why we're all so pale — despite the good efforts of your make—up people. for them, that kind of humour, almost slapstick humour, it's fine. it was the uptight brits who had a problem with it, not the chinese. some in the diplomatic service were absolutely... yes, they were. that story ran around the world. i think all the major wires ran it. i thinkjust the idea that he has these gaffes every now and then. i think that's when it became a thing, really. yes, and also, you know, i'm delighted he did have the gaffes. it made him into somebody human. he was only playing jokes with people, that was the thing. in fact, he castigated us once for reporting them, and he did admit to the slitty eyes, and he did admit that he said to aboriginals, "you're chucking spears at each othe