Britain should harness the soft power of James Bond

Have you ever wondered what Vladimir Putin thinks when he watches a Bond movie?

When the credits roll at the end, does he glance at his mobile phone and wonder if anyone else is listening? Does he stroke his cat and gaze meditatively at the wall-to-ceiling fish tank in his dacha and feel some unease?

James Bond is made up – and everyone knows it. But just like The Crown, 007 has a habit of shaping global perceptions for better or worse. Why else did China  censor the Skyfall’s Shanghai scenes and cut out references to torture by the Chinese authorities, however fantastical the plot may have been?

So you can bet your bottom dollar that after the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un sees the new James Bond film, No Time to Die, this week (assuming he hasn’t seen it already), that he’ll be upgrading the CCTV or doubling the guard outside his bedroom.